


Diversity

by dondena



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003)
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-26
Updated: 2015-02-26
Packaged: 2018-03-15 08:10:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 30,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3439871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dondena/pseuds/dondena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My first Raph fic. Raph's brothers are having problems with him until Bishop gets him, then his life is changed forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

There had been high Foot activity on the surface for awhile now, and Leo had just been strict about wanting his brothers to stay below ground for awhile for their safety, but Raph had to just defy him like always. He didn't want to be cooped up down here anymore; he was restless, and he had blown his top at Leo for trying to stop him. Words turned into angry yells and then the fight turned physical.

Leo had a big bruise on his right cheek from being punched by Raph, and a good long cut on his left leg from one of his sais that would needed stitches.

After realizing what he had done, Raphael stormed out of the lair, leaving Leonardo in a growing pool of his own blood. It was Mikey who discovered his eldest brother in this precarious state a half an hour later, and half carried, half dragged him all the way to Don's lab before locking himself in his room; he hated when his brothers fought till the point one of them almost bled to death, and most of the time, it was Leo who ended up that condition.

In Don's lab, the genius started stitching up Leo's leg with extreme care. He had grown accustomed to these situations with the passing of the years, but it still pained him, especially for Mikey, who was still vulnerable.

The silence in the lab was getting uncomfortable, and Leo needed to do something to help keep his mind off the pain of the needle being threaded in and out of his leg.

"I know Raph likes to go off and blow off steam when he gets mad, but I wish he didn't have to defy me so much." Leo started the conversation.

Don was on a stool as he bent over his brother's leg, stitching him up carefully. "I'm sure he'll calm down someday, Leo, but that would be more likely when we don't have to live in the sewers. But I also think there's another simpler reason why he gets so ticked off at everybody."

"And that would be?" Leo asked.

"His hormones." Don answered knowingly. "But of course, we have all been so close all our lives, and now that we're all grown up, so to speak, he just wants his own space, and his own life."

"I know he wants that, but that kind of life just isn't possible for us, Donny. You know what we are." Leo said.

"I know. But we just can't help wanting it." Don finished Leo's last stitch. "Now be careful on that leg, and no training for a week, Leo. Or you'll tear the stitches and make things worse for you." Don said sternly, as he began bandaging Leo's leg as well.

"I hate it when I can't train, and yes, I promise to be careful, Donny." Leo said. "I just wish Raph would also try to think about his actions before he reacts. Like what he did to me not too long ago." Leo glanced down at his injured leg.

"Just let him have his cool off time, before you go talk to him. See if you two could work things out." Don said.

"I'll try, but it's not easy for me to just 'talk' to him, Don. That's more your department." Leo groused.

"Usually yes, Leo, but this time, it was a dispute between you and him. You two have really got to come to an understanding; or someday, he could really kill you. He's much stronger than you, and you both are greatly skilled in the ninja arts, almost masters." Don explained. "I don't want to see one of my brothers commit fratricide."

"I know, and I am determined to not let it come to that!" Leo said, and limped out of the lab, and to the dojo to meditate.

...

When Raph had come back from his run, he had his head cleared and was much calmer. He knew he had to find Leo and apologize. He never meant to hurt him... at least not that badly. Don and Mikey had been ticked off at Raph for hurting Leo as well; Mikey being the most affected, of course. He had cried himself to sleep, and didn't want to know anything about his hotheaded brother till the next morning. Don was also reluctant to share words with Raph, but he lectured him about the extension of Leo's wound, and informed him the latter was in the dojo.

Knowing what he had done and feeling guilty as shell, he approached Leo carefully, like a cat stalking a mouse. The leader opened his eyes as he saw his red masked brother coming towards him, guilt consuming him from the inside clearly on his face.

"Leo, I just want to apologize to ya for jumpin' at ya earlier. I just... had to get out and get some air." Raph began.

"I understand that, Raph. But with the Foot activity going on, it was just too dangerous to be going out. That's why I had to try to stop you." Leo said softly.

"I know, but as you can see, I'm not hurt. I know how to avoid being caught." Raph replied cockily.

Leo knew that Raph hated being bossed around, but as leader and his eldest brother, Leo felt it was his right to protect his younger brother. Though it seemed Raph didn't want to be protected. "This time, Raph, but some day, you may get caught and not return to us because of your rash actions." Leo tried patiently to explain to him.

"I can't help it if I get more claustrophobic down here than the rest of you. I'm an adventurous turtle." Raph replied.

"Not to mention impetuous, and a hothead." Leo added.

"Yeah, that too. I can turn into that when I don't get my air to cool down my temper." Raph said. "And again, I'm sorry, Leo."

"I'm still a bit upset with you, Raph, but I accept your apology." Leo said. He went back to meditating, while Raph went to get something to eat before bed. He knew he had training in the morning.

...

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, though the Foot was at large, there was another enemy who was wanting one of the turtles: Agent Bishop.

Though he knew how valuable specimens each of the turtles were to have such good DNA for testing, he was deciding to alter one of the turtles' lives permanently. If and when the turtles might decide to try breeding with humans or other unknown mutants if he could ever reproduce successfully. The one turtle that he had in mind wouldn't be able to by the time he was done with him.

Bishop was thinking about trying to capture Raphael and try his experiment on him to see if he would react a lot more to it. He knew how the red masked turtle was very hot tempered. And he was going to change his life.

"Go out and capture me Raphael, the turtle in the red mask." Bishop ordered.

"Yes, Sir." The commando saluted smartly. A squad of others stood at the ready to get Raph whenever they could spot him. Preferably alone, but if not, then they'd make short work of any brothers with him. They took off to find him.

Bishop knew the turtle liked to be out and about, so he was sure his commandos wouldn't take too long to capture him. But the turtles were also not exactly in the yellow pages to find either. It might take some time and then, it could be the next night. And New York was also a huge city to look for one to four turtles at all, like needles in a haystack.

He would have Raphael soon enough.


	2. Chapter 2

A few days later, Raph and Leo were on speaking terms again, and Raph felt really guilty about hurting him. He was now really trying to make it up to him. 

Leo felt miserable that he couldn't train, but it was only for a few more days, and then he could get the stitches out. He felt like such an invalid, but he could still do anything he pleased otherwise. 

Master Splinter had also punished Raphael with meditation time, extra chores, and a talk. And he was not to venture out of the lair for two weeks. He would be helping Leonardo with anything he wanted done too. 

Raph felt so bad that he surrendered to his father's orders. He just hoped he wasn't going to go nuts for the 2 weeks. 

……..

It had been a week since the fight, and Don had finally taken the stitches out of Leo's leg. There would be a scar there, but at least the wound was healed. But despite Leo's recovery, Raph's punishment continued. 

Leo was happy that he and Raph were spending some time together. He even now tried to have that talk with him if they could come to an understanding, and not fight so much. 

"Raph, we really have to have to stop fighting like this. I don't like fighting with you." Leo began. 

"I don't like to fight either, Leo. But like I said when I first apologized, I just get more claustrophobic down here than you. I have to have action." Raph replied. 

"I know, and so do I. Though maybe not always in the same way. I just want you to be safe, Raph. We are all we have. You are the second best fighter here, next to me. We could always use you in battles, though I wish you would think a little more before you struck. You might get really hurt someday." Leo said.

"I guess I don't know how to think the way you do. I just react, and think later." Raph said. 

"I know, and sometimes, thinking later is sometimes something you regret, like what you did to me." Leo said. 

Raph looked down in shame. "And I said I was sorry. And I know I miss Casey, and busting up the bad guys." 

"Just a few more days, Raph. You'll live." Leo said. 

Leo and Raph had come to an understanding at this moment, for now. They tried to have peace among each other, understanding that when someone was mad, they did things they regretted later. 

…….. 

Bishop was so far disappointed that the commandoes hadn't found the turtles yet. He would get his turtle, sooner or later. But they were searching nearly every inch of the city for them.   
……… 

Three days later, Raph's punishment was finally over, and he was out of the lair in a whoosh! He had started to go stir crazy! He hadn't taken his anger out on Leo at least. Though when he hadn't been doing chores or working, or training, he was mostly taking his anger out on his punching bag during his 2 week grounding. 

Raph just needed to blow off his steam. Leo let him go this time without an argument. He, Mikey, and Don would go on patrol. He figured it might be safer now to venture out for some air too. 

……..

Raph was just all too excited to be out of the lair after so long. He ran over the rooftops until he just couldn't run anymore. He stopped in midtown. It had just felt good doing all that running, with the wind blowing his mask behind him. 

He had stopped on a building with a water tower on it, and he walked to the edge of the building to look down at the streets. "Man, it feels so good to be out of the lair! And to be free!" He took a deep breath of that nightly fresh air. 

……… 

At Bishop's base, there were two phone calls reported in.

"We see three of the turtles, Agent Bishop." 

"Is the one in red with them?"

"No Sir." 

Then the other call came in. "We have spotted a lone turtle, Sir." 

"The one in red?" 

"Yes." 

"Good. Proceed. Bring him to me at once." Then he told the other callers to let the other 3 go. Though he did proceed to ask where they all were, and the 3 were far away from the one. 

It wouldn't be long now for Bishop to get his hands on Raphael. 

……….

Raph could just stare and gaze at the streets and people and cars all night long. It was his first night of freedom again. But just then, he heard some sounds behind him and he felt a presence. He snapped around, ready to grab his sais. 

There, right in front of him, were 9 commandoes. Raph hated Bishop's men just as he hated Foot ninjas. 

He growled and took out his sais, ready for a fight. 

"Hands up, Turtle! You are coming with us." One said. 

"NO WAY IN SHELL!" Raph growled and attacked them, before they could seriously attack him. He started flipping toward them to try to jam their guns and break them. 

But of course, the humans had to start firing at him. Just to stun him if they hit him. They knew Bishop wanted Raph alive for his experiments. 

Raph managed to dodge all the shots, destroyed five guns, and knocked all nine of the men down, but one of them was not unconscious. He was still within reach of his gun, and it wasn't one that was broken. 

Raph had his back turned. "No one messes with me!" He quipped proudly. 

The commando, in pain from Raph's attack, but got his gun quickly, and he took aim. He fired.

Raph was shot in one of his legs. He cried out in pain, but he turned around. Then he was shot again, but in his plastron this time, and it stunned him. He fell to the ground, barely awake. 

The man got up and painfully walked over to the turtle. "Agent Bishop will have you, Turtle." Then he knelt down and produced a needle. He filled it, and put it to Raph's arm. 

Raph groaned, trying to move and fight off the stunning, but it didn't take long for the sedative's effects to knock him out completely. 

The rest of the men came to, and a helicopter was alerted because they were on a rooftop. They now had Raph. 

The chopper came down and Raph was deposited inside. He was now taken to Bishop's hidden base.

"Agent Bishop, we have the red masked turtle." 

"Excellent. I expect him shortly." Bishop smiled evilly.


	3. Chapter 3

Leo, Don, and Mikey soon returned home after running the rooftops for a few hours, and breaking up some robberies. It had been a quiet night so far, but they were glad to be back in the security of their own home. Master Splinter came out of his room to greet them. "How did your patrol go, my sons?" 

"It went well, Sensei, and it was good getting some fresh air again." Leo answered their father's question.

The wise rat looked at the number of his sons, and saw they were down one. "Where is Raphael?" 

"He took off the second he knew he could go out, Master." Don said. 

"He just really needed to let off some steam after being grounded for so long." Mikey answered with a chuckle.

"I understand. In other words, we should not wait up for him." Splinter said with a wry smile, and went into the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. 

Leo however, still worried for his brother, and decided that he would wait up for him to return. But for now, they would just have to wait until he returned. 

…….. 

Raph -strapped to a gurney and unconscious- was wheeled into a surgical room where Bishop waited anxiously for his prize to regain consciousness. While he waited, he examined Raph's lower body, the area he was going to perform his invasive surgery on. The plastron would have to be sawed through with a circular saw, but after he was able to get through the plastron, the rest of the surgery should be easy. But either way, Bishop was going to get what he was determined to get, and looking forward to the results he was going to get from his unwilling specimen. 

He undid the strap over Raph's belly and in that moment, he felt the turtle finally beginning to stir. 

"Where am I?" Raph said groggily. 

"In my laboratory, Raphael." Bishop answered smugly. 

'Oh no! Not Bishop!' Raph thought to himself, an icy finger of fear sliding down his back. "What do you want, Bishop?" He snarled, not allowing any of his fear to show in his voice or on his face. "Where are my brothers?!" He asked, sudden worry for his siblings shooting through him. 

"It's just you I have captured Raphael." Bishop answered with a smile. "You have something I want." Bishop could not help the spike of malicious anticipation that shot through him at the plans he had in store for the hotheaded, combative, vicious freak. 

"I have nothin' that you want!" Raph protested angrily, struggling against the leather straps that bound him to the table. 

"Oh, but you do." Bishop's voice dripped with malice, an evil grin tugging at his lips. "Your entire body is worth a great deal to me, from a scientific, experimental perspective, of course. And very shortly, I am going to slowly, and oh so painfully dissect you, piece by tiny piece. Just to see what makes you tick." 

Raph let out a derisive snort, trying not to let the panic that was beginning to well up from deep within him, choke him. "Figures. That's all you eva' wanted us for!" Raph bit out the words in a mocking voice, hoping to stall his enemy long enough for his brothers to save him.

Bishop -finished with his taunting for the moment- got down to the technical details, that of preparing the saw for its bloody job.  
Raph, seeing his captor's attention being momentarily diverted, tried to struggle against his leather bonds again. Raph tended to exude the confidence and swagger of someone who was tough, but his thick veneer of cocky bravery was beginning to fail with each passing moment. He gathered up his fraying courage, cloaking himself in his steely resolve of never giving Bishop the satisfaction of seeing him scream. 

Raph's eyes quickly scanned the sparsely furnished room, knowing that he had to get out of Bishop's lab before he was turned into something horribly unrecognizable.

Raph thought furiously. He had no idea if he was still in the city or not, or how long he had been out for, but he was sure that his family would find him and put a stop to this. He knew Bishop had taken his shell cell off -he couldn't feel it in his belt any longer- but as soon as his brothers -mostly Leo- noticed that he had been gone for so long, they would track him down and rescue him. 

Raph just hoped they'd come soon, because Bishop was not waiting around this time. Bishop seemed oddly hurried. "You won't get away with this, Bishop!" Raph yelled at him. "My family will stop you!" 

Bishop only smiled at Raph's threat. "So far, I am not seeing any trace of your family around trying to find you. Face it, Freak. You are mine now." 

"Over my dead body!" Raph growled in defiance. 

"Precisely." Bishop grinned sadistically, and walked over to him, circular saw poised and ready in his rubber gloved hand. With his free hand, he tapped on Raph's plastron. "This interesting piece of anatomy is a hindrance however, and must be removed before anything more… invasive, can be performed." 

The saw started up then, the high pitched whir of the spinning saw making the skin on Raph's arms crawl in horror. Bishop only smiled as the saw was slowly lowered to the lower portion of his plastron. Raph watched as the man lowered the saw toward his lower belly, and Raph was unable to quell his horrified reaction, as overwhelming fear rose up and choke him. He struggled, thrashing wildly against his bonds, trying to move his midsection away from the punishing, spinning blade to no avail. 

The saw was so close now; the spinning, cutting teeth a mere hairsbreadth from his plastron. Raph closed his eyes tightly; unable to watch the horrific act that was about to happen to him. He could feel the saw so close to his plastron, but he didn't immediately feel the sharp slicing of the blade. Instead, the blade stopped, and he heard a faint snapping noise. He opened his eyes in confusion and looked down his body. His belt had just been cut with the saw to get it out of the way. 

"It was in my way." Bishop explained with a shrug." Now, the real fun begins." Bishop grinned evilly, with the saw still in his hand.

Things were about to get messy.


	4. Chapter 4

Mikey lounged on the couch in the living room, watching some movies, and stuffing handful after overfull handful of potato chips into his mouth, as his eyes eagerly devoured the B-movie playing on the TV screen. Master Splinter had gone to bed a few hours ago, having given up on waiting up for his second oldest son to arrive back home. Don had wandered into his lab and had begun tinkering with some sort of machine that Leo was unsure of not only its function, but its viability as well.

The lair mostly quiet, just the sound from the TV and the occasional sound of metal clanging against metal issuing from Don's lab. Everything was pretty normal... right down to the pacing turtle, who continued to wait up for Raph. Leonardo repeated his own words in his mind, 'Raph's rash actions might one day be the end of him.'

As the eldest, he couldn't help but worry about his brothers; especially Raph. The fact that Raph was still outside made him worry even more, but he knew that Raph had his shell cell with him. He didn't have any big reason to be overly worried just yet.

Another hour passed by, and still, Raph wasn't home. What had started out as mild concern, had not blossomed into overwhelming worry. It wasn't like Raph to be out for over four hours without at least checking in. Though Leo knew that there were instances where Raph would stay out until dawn when he was really angry. But as far as Leo knew, Raph was not angry, just eager to be topside.

Of all of his brothers, Raph was the one who was able to get away with remaining topside for a lot longer and more often than the rest of them, without suffering their father's disapproval and punishments.

'Maybe he just lost track of time.' Leo thought to himself, hopefully. He decided that he would continue to wait up for Raph for a little longer. He didn't want to worry Don, Mikey, or his father just yet. He would give Raph two more hours tops, before alerting his family to their brother's worrying tardiness. And besides, there was still a lot of evening left.

Leo continued to pace, trying to ignore the ball of dread that had curled up into his stomach, but couldn't seem to quell the feeling that something horrible had happened to his brother.

….

The circular saw had easily cut through the turtle's belt, the leather falling to the side so that Bishop now had an unobstructed cutting surface to work with. Bishop had relished in the unadulterated fear that had risen up in the red masked freak, but playtime was now over, and he had some serious work to be doing. He started up the saw again.

Raph felt his skin quiver in fear, as the circular saw blade neared his plastron for a second time. Raph searched the room, listened intently for signs of a disturbance that would indicate that his brothers had arrived, but he heard nothing. Only the high pitched whine of the saw, as it was held mere eighths of an inch above his plastron. It was then that the horrific thought struck him; that his brothers didn't even realize that he had been kidnapped in the first place.

As this thought struck him, Raph knew that it was the truth. His brothers would not worry about him until he did not show up at dawn, and by then, it would be much, much too late for him. Raph swallowed down his fear, and closed his eyes against what was no doubt going to be agonizingly painful.

"I do apologize." Bishop soothed. "Sorry I can't administer a sedative. It will mess up my findings." Bishop gleefully repeated the very words that he had said to Mikey the first time they had met. Raph could never forget how terrified Mikey had been at the time, and now Raph was able to fully appreciate the sadistic simplicity of the threat.

The saw blade touched down in the middle of Raph's left scute, high above where his belt had been moments ago. It began to move to his right, straight across. Raph just clenched his teeth and tried to keep from screaming. He was not going to give Bishop the satisfaction. He was used to pain and he could withstand a lot of it. But Raph knew that the type of pain that Bishop had in store for him, was going to be a kind of pain that he would be unable to even fathom.

Bishop noticed that Raphael was holding back, and not allowing his pain to show. Feeling irritated, Bishop pressed the saw roughly through the hard keratin and into the thick, white membrane located beneath the turtle's plastron.

Raph felt the blade bite into his soft, vulnerable flesh, and he was unable to restrain the roar of agony that was issued from his lips. His scream reverberated throughout the room, and Bishop's blade bit through more and more vulnerable flesh.

"That's more like it." Bishop smiled with dark relish at the turtle's agonized screams. "I was afraid you had gone to sleep and would miss all the fun."

"Fuck you!" Raph managed to grind out as the saw eased up slightly.

Bishop grinned sadistically, and pressed the whirling blade into Raph's flesh again, not deep enough to damage any organs, but deep enough to cause Raph to throw back his head again in agony and scream.

Blood marred Raph's plastron, wetting the white sheets that lay beneath Raph's struggling form. The more he screamed, the deeper and longer the saw went. When Bishop noticed a few tears dampening Raphael's mask, he stopped 'playing' with him.

Bishop smiled proudly, having finally managing to make the hotheaded freak weep like a little school girl. It was disappointing that he wasn't openly crying, but a few tears were good enough. It was time to get down to the serious business of opening the turtle up and poking around inside.

…

After two more hours of pacing, Leo was beside himself with worry. Dread had crawled it's way along his skin, making it cold and sticky with sweat. He took one final look at the clock and decided that they had waited long enough; it was time to find Raph.

He quickly strode to Don's lab, his eyes searching for his genius brother, who had his head bent over a microscope. "Donny, I am very worried about Raph. He still hasn't come home yet." Leo told his brother anxiously.

Donny lifted his head from the microscope and looked at Leo. "You know Raph, he hasn't been out of the lair in so long, I'd think he wanted to be out all night for the sheer fun of it. He's probably out with Casey somewhere, breaking a few heads to make himself feel better, let off a little steam." Donatello said soothingly.

"Raph would have called by now, he always does if he knows he's going to be out late, or with Casey." Leo said, picking his phone out of his belt and opening it. He quickly dialed Raph's number.

Don placed his eyes over the microscope lenses again and waited for Raph to answer Leo's phone call, not worried yet.

On the 6th ring, the phone went straight to voicemail, and Leo sensed that there was something very wrong with their hotheaded brother. "He didn't answer his shell cell, Donny." Leo told Donny softly.

Donny frowned and looked up. He straightened, his mind thinking furiously. "I'll check his shell cell's tracking on my computer." Don said. He walked to his computer and sat down in the chair, his fingers flying furiously across the keyboard. He brought up the GPS tracking program that he had installed on each of their shell cell phones, just in case. Don studied the map and frowned. The tracker was active, but it wasn't moving.

"Raph's shell cell hasn't moved in over 2 hours. It isn't like Raph to stay in one spot for very long, unless he is at April and Casey's." Donny informed Leo, a grim frown on his face.

"Where's the signal coming from?" Leo asked Don, as the adrenaline began pumping through his veins, his heart beginning to pound painfully in his chest.

"It seems to be coming from across the city in Brooklyn. It's over the river. Raph wouldn't be able to get over there without the Shell Cycle." Don said, his voice beginning to shake with worry. "Come on. Let's go get him."

Leo didn't hesitate for a moment, his suspicions confirmed. Dawn was fast approaching, and the time for them to be out on the streets was shrinking with every passing moment.

Leo went to go get Mikey, who was asleep on the couch, while Don gathered some supplies, in case Raph needed medical attention.

"Mikey, wake up!" Leo hissed, shaking his baby brother awake.

"Huh? Leo?" Mikey mumbled in confusion.

"Get up. We need to go and get Raph right now. He hasn't come home from his run yet." Leo urged his sleepy baby brother awake, forcing him to get off the couch and move.

"Alright." Mikey yawned. He groggily slid from the couch and followed his eldest brother to the garage, where Don was now waiting for them.

"Shouldn't we tell Master Splinter?" Don asked.

"Yes, I'll run and tell him." Leo said, and turned shell and ran to tell their father. Don needed to make sure they had enough supplies anyway.

Leo ran into Splinter's room, and gently shook Splinter awake. "Father, Raph's missing. He hasn't come home yet."

Splinter snapped awake at those words. His face setting into deep lines of worry for his most difficult son. "Do you know where he is?" His aged voice asked.

"Don tracked his phone over to somewhere in Brooklyn. We're getting ready to go get him now. I just had to come real quick and tell you so that you would know where we were going." Leo said.

"Bring him home, Leonardo." Master Splinter replied softly, as he nodded his head in understanding.

"We will." Leo promised, standing up. He ran back to the garage to get in the truck, where everyone was buckled in and just waiting for him. Don floored it, all of them sensing that something was wrong with Raph. Determination ran hotly through Leo, they were going to find Raph and bring him home.

Master Splinter closed his eyes and hoped that his other sons would be able to find their wayward brother by themselves. He knew them to be perfectly capable of the job, but wished that he were himself, not so old to be participating in the search.

…

Bishop finished his cut up to the top of the freak's right scute. Satisfied with the length and depth of the cut, he began to cut downwards. He cut to just below where the belt had been, and then continued to cut back to the left scute. By the time he was done, there was a good-sized square in the lower middle of Raph's plastron.

"Now to take the square off." Bishop said, pleased with his progress thus far.

Raph's torso vibrated with a dull, throbbing pain. He was ashamed that he had given Bishop the satisfaction of hearing him scream in agony. He could feel the wetness of his mask sticking to his face, but was only able to comfort himself with the thought that he hadn't openly wept like a child.

At Bishop's softly spoken words, Raph forced himself to unclench his eyes and look down his body. His vision was blurred with the tears that he had refused to shed. He blinked away the moisture, fearing what he would find. He saw that a large square had been cut into his blood splattered plastron. He felt his eyes widen in surprise at the horrifying sight. His stomach grew heavy and rolled uncomfortably, as he swallowed the vomit down, which burned in his throat.

Bishop reached down with his glove encased hands to remove the square cut in the turtle's plastron. Looking over, Bishop picked up a long, thin piece of metal, and inserted it into the edge of the square. Blood seeped from around the edges as Bishop began to pry the keratin from his flesh.

Searing pain shot through Raph as Bishop managed to gain a little bit of purchase, discarding the prying tool, and tearing the square of plastron from his flesh in one swift movement. The pain was unimaginable. Raph threw back his head and screamed in agony. His plastron being torn from his flesh was akin to a human having their fingernail torn off, times a thousand. Black spots danced before his eyes as his pain engulfed mind took in the white, bloody flesh beneath his plastron. The black spots suddenly got thicker and wider, dragging Raph down into blessed oblivion.

Bishop watched as the turtle's body went suddenly limp. He quickly checked the pulse at the turtle's throat and found a steady pulse, thankful that the freak was still alive. His fun would have been ruined if he had died. Though Bishop knew that he would have taken that particular circumstance in stride, at least the turtle was still alive.

Bishop picked up a scalpel and quickly, but carefully cut through the thin, tough white membrane located just beneath the plastron. Using retractors, he pried open the flesh and held it there. Bishop's eyes carefully inspected the organs that he had exposed and gently pushed them aside, searching for the organs he had opened Raph up for in the first place.

He went digging carefully in the lower regions of his abdominal cavity, below the intestines and eventually found his quarry: the reproductive organs. They were a good size and in good condition for what would be normal in a healthy specimen.

Carefully moving the other organs aside, Bishop lifted them up, tied off the vas deferens so there wouldn't be any major bleeding, and cut the tubes on both sides. Then he removed Raph's reproductive organs out of his body, placing them carefully on a metal tray that was sitting next to him for further study later. He left everything else intact, but not before first having a look at each of the organs.

Bishop was impressed with the health of this particular specimen, especially considering that he had grown up in the sewers, subsisting off of who knew what types of food in his early days. This however was not important at the moment, Bishop had what he wanted. He would consider different aspects of the turtle's internal systems and workings the next time he opened him up. But for now, he had to close the incision up and replace the plastron and allow the turtle time to recover from his unwanted surgery.

All in all, Bishop was pleased with the success of the surgery. Neutering the turtle had been an easy task, with the exception of having to use a saw to remove the plastron.

Bishop removed the small retractors and quickly stitched the membrane closed. After this was accomplished, he carefully placed the square of the plastron back in place. Using epoxy glue and fiberglass strips, Bishop sealed up the cuts made by the circular saw.

Once this task was completed, one of Bishop's men entered the room and assisted him with covering the turtle's midsection in a thick covering of bandages to hold everything in place and protect the healing keratin. His assistant then helped move the turtle onto a stretcher.

His limbs were tied down again just in case he tried to escape when he woke up. Bishop went off to study the organs that he had removed while they were still fresh. If he froze them, he may even be able to use them for something at a later date.

Two assistants placed the unconscious turtle in a clean room with the lights left on. They lowered the stretcher onto the ground and left the room, locking the door securely behind them as they left.

…..

Raph began to wake up and stir as much as his restraints allowed him to. His body was nothing but a painful ball of raw nerves. He felt tears fill his eyes and spill over as he tried to breathe through the pain, letting out a faint, pitiful whimper. His vision was blurred at first, but slowly it began to focus. He noticed the bright lights, but they were not directly pointing in his eyes.

Regardless, it took several moments for his eyes to adjust to the brightness. Raph was fully expecting to see Bishop's smug face looming over his helpless, pain filled body, but found that he was completely alone. Relief flowed through him at this, and he searched his surroundings as best as he was able.

He forced himself to try and raise himself up, knowing that regardless of his pain, he needed to escape. Unfortunately, he found that his arms and legs were still tied down. He was able to raise his head up enough so that he was able to look down the length of his body. He observed the bandages wrapped around his midsection and fear shot through him, wondering what sick and twisted thing Bishop had done to him. But the need to escape, and the pain pushed any thoughts of what Bishop may have done to him from his mind as he gasped in agony as he tried to pull his arms and legs free of the restraints, to no avail.

Defeated, Raph laid his head back down and clenched his teeth in pain as another wave of agony tore through him, shaking him to his very core. It hurt so much to move; even breathing was painful. He struggled weakly, wanting to do nothing more than escape. Anger and hatred towards Bishop burned hotly through him, but this was quickly replaced by another tearing lash of pain that whipped through his abused body.

Raph gasped for breath and began to shiver with cold. His pain filled mind wondered how much blood he had lost, and if he was going to die here in this white, featureless room. He felt so damn weak and helpless. His stomach clenched as it rolled a wave of nausea through him. Exhaustion flowed heavily through every fiber of his being, as his head listlessly fell to the side.

He looked longingly at the door as he fought the clawing tendrils of unconsciousness that were rising up and trying to claim him. Fear shot through him at the possibility of Bishop doing even further damage to him while he was unconscious, but he was unable to fight the rising tide of black that was engulfing him.

Raph vaguely heard the sound of a blaring alarm, but it was so far away, and Raph wasn't even sure if it was real, or just some hopeful hallucination brought on by the pain, but it didn't matter. The darkness finally consumed him, dragging him down into peaceful unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

A few minutes earlier... 

"The signal from Raph's shell cell is surprisingly strong, which means it is not only operational, but still turned on." Don informed his brothers, feeling a little relieved with this finding.

"So... that means he's not in any big danger, right?" Mikey asked, hope blazing in his worried eyes.

"We can't be sure of that, Mikey." Leo answered quietly. "I have a feeling that Raph is in a great deal of trouble."

"Gee Leo, way to keep it positive." Mikey mocked sarcastically. 

"Mikey," Leo bit out seriously. "Ever since Raph left the lair, I've been feeling something... and don't even think about saying it's just overprotective instincts. This felt different, something is wrong."

"Well, we're about to find out if Leo's sixth sense is right, because we're here." Don announced, pointing at the facility in front of them. He parked the Battle Shell far from the main entrance, but close enough just in case they needed to make a quick escape. 

Leo made a quick inspection of the area. "Looks like some kind of abandoned laboratory or something." He observed.

"Maybe not completely abandoned." Don added, noticing armed men on the roof of the building, and a few of the men surrounding the entrance. "Those are Agent Bishop's commandos!" Don hissed, recognizing the uniforms of the armed men.

"Oh shell, that means Bishop has Raph and Leo was right!" Mikey exclaimed in a horrified voice.

They all knew that if Bishop had Raph, that their brother was in danger, and that they had every reason to fear what that madman was doing to their brother at this very moment.

"C'mon Mikey, now is not the time to panic. If we're going to get Raph out of here, I need you to focus." Leo told his baby brother sternly, trying to keep the fear from lacing his own voice. Leo then turned his attention to his other sibling. "Donnie, can you find a way to get in without activating the alarms or attracting any unwanted attention?" 

Don rapidly typed on his laptop, scanning the area and using all of his knowledge to find all of the alarms, and any probabilities for traps, but the results were disturbingly negative, which was... odd. "This is strange; there don't appear to be any alarms, except for the ones inside. But those have to be activated manually. So if there are more commandos inside and they see us, one of them will probably activate one of them." 

"And then we'd be busted, and in trouble!" Mikey added.

Leo nodded in agreement. "It looks like we'll have to take the guards down first." With that said, the leader made his way as stealthily as he could towards the guards located near the main entrance. 

The two men were fully armed and apparently alert, but Leo's ninja skills made him invisible and undetectable. The two guards were caught completely unaware, slipping to the ground unconscious before they even knew what hit them. Leo then gave his brothers the signal to join him, now that the area was relatively clear. 

Mikey and Don approached, surveying their surroundings, and mixing in with the shadows in order to avoid detection by the commandos patrolling the roofs. The three ninjas were now standing in front of the metallic door that would give them entrance into the laboratory, where their brother was being held by a madman.

The door was not chained shut, nor did it have any locks, but it was tightly shut, and there was no door knob or latch to open the door. However, some of the screws could be easily removed, so Don opened his duffel bag and pulled out a screwdriver. Donatello hunkered down to remove the lower screws first, while Mikey and Leo provided the lookout. 

After what felt like an eternity, their anxiety growing with each passing moment, Don finally managed to remove most of the screws, enough to allow his brothers and himself to enter.

Their first indication that Raphael was indeed located within the building was locating Raph's shell cell, lying discarded on the floor. Quietly, they continued to walk further and further into the building, through dark and winding corridors. Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched every step of the way.

In the security room, one of the commandos pulled a lever that sent out a loud alarm, turning on the lights all at once.

The turtles looked up at the lights that now blazed overhead, the sirens blaring and red lights flashing. 

"Uh-oh, busted!" Mikey observed ominously. 

………..

Bishop looked up from his work in irritation. "No! Not now! I still need to see if Raphael will respond to my experiment!" Bishop growled from in his lab. He quickly dashed over to a bank of security monitors. In grainy black and white, Bishop observed Raphael's brothers making their way quickly through the snaking corridors.

All of the commandos that had been sent to deal with his unwanted guests were now laying in unconscious heaps on the floor, and now, the turtles were headed in his direction.

Suddenly, the doors to his lab were swung open. "Bishop!" Leo snarled with rage. Where is my brother?!" He demanded.

"We know you have him, Bishop! Now, let him go!" Mikey said angrily, twirling his nunchucks skillfully.

"And why would I do such thing?" Bishop asked in question, his smile mocking and sadistic.

"Mikey, Donny, find Raph, I'll take care of Bishop." Leo ordered, charging towards the dark suited man. 

Mikey and Don ran from the room as Leo and Bishop began circling each other.

…….. 

Don found Raph's weapons in one of the rooms. The prongs were flecked with blood, and Don hoped that the blood was not his hot-headed brother's; though he strongly suspected that his brother managed to cause a few injuries before being captured. He collected them in his duffel bag and quickly made his way out of the room, anxious to find his older sibling, hopefully unharmed.

Mikey left no door unopened while looking for his red clad brother. He paled a little when -in passing- Don showed him Raph's bloody sais. Mikey remembered Leo's words. They had to stay calm if they wanted to get Raph back home safe. Pulling himself together, Mikey continued his search.

Suddenly, Don stopped at one specific door, while Mikey continued down the hall. The coppery smell of blood had hit his nostrils. Opening the door with shaking hands, he took in the ghastly room in unimaginable horror. The room was filled with medical equipment, machines, and tools; including scalpels, clamps, retractors and various prying and slicing instruments. But this is not what made Donatello gasp in horror; it was the bloody circular saw, as well as the splatter of fresh blood that covered the floor and walls. Don felt himself pale, and his vision became fuzzy around the edges at the belief that this blood was Raph's. 

A few doors down, Mikey found his brother, semi-conscious, and strapped down to a stretcher.

Raph's torso was covered in a thick layer of white bandages, blood leaching through and staining his middle crimson. Mikey covered his mouth in horror as he swallowed down the hot bile that burned his throat. Mikey ran to his injured brother letting out a high pitched yell, calling desperately for Donny.

At the sound of Mikey's frantic yell, Don ran to where his baby brother was trying desperately to free Raph from the stretcher he was strapped to. Don's eyes widened in horror at the sight of their imprisoned brother and his bloody bandages, confirming Don's fear that the blood staining the saw and walls of the other room, was indeed his brother's.

Don quickly began to check his brother's vitals as Mikey released the straps, talking softly to Raph, who appeared to be partially conscious. "Raphie! What did they do to you?" Mikey asked, his voice shaking in fear and worry. Mikey's eyes pleaded with Don, wanting to know if Raph was alright.

"Mik- ey?" Raph slurred weakly. 

"Raph? Can you hear me?" Don asked, kneeling close to the stretcher and checking his brother's pulse in his neck. 

Raph nodded weakly, indicating that he could hear his younger brother's voice. "Don?" He managed to ask in confusion. 

"We're going to get you home, bro." Mikey said. "Just hold on." 

Leo burst into the room. He was panting heavily, blood running down his arms from various cuts and lacerations. "Bishop's been subdued. We need to get Raph out of here before Bishop's men wake up." Leo took a look at Raph and paled. "Donny?" He asked, his voice wavering with fear.

"He's alive, but I don't know what Bishop did to him. We need to get him out of here and back to the infirmary. All of us will have to carry him very carefully out of here." Don said. They all took an arm and his legs, and began to carry him from Bishop's gruesome lab.

Don and Mikey gently carried Raph as quickly as they could through the winding hallways. Leo, taking the lead, fought off any of Bishop's men who managed to regain consciousness and were determined on stopping them from leaving.

While the turtles were making their escape, Bishop managed to regain consciousness and break free from the rope that Leo had used to tie him up. He ran to his bank of security monitors and observed the turtles taking the injured turtle out of the facility. Bishop growled in frustration at his prize being stolen from his grasp before he was through with his new plaything.

However, he called his commandos back and let the turtles go. As much as he wanted Raph to remain in his facility and be studied some more, he had already done what he wanted to accomplish. With the decreased testosterone, Raphael would be calmer, less aggressive and more docile, which would make him a perfect target for future attacks.

Don stayed in the back with Raph as Mikey drove home. Leo held Raph's hand tightly as Don made sure that Raph was still stable. They were all in shock. They were still unsure of what Bishop had done to Raph, but Don knew that whatever it was, it would not be good for his brother.

………… 

Master Splinter anxiously awaited the arrival of his sons. He was on his 4th cup of tea. He was exhausted, but too nervous to sleep. He lifted the shaking cup to his lips, pausing as he heard the doors to the garage opening and closing.

Splinter quickly stood, his sons bursting through the door, carrying Raph between them.

"Master! We found him, but he's injured. We don't know how badly yet." Leo called out as they rushed to the infirmary. 

"What happened to him?" Master Splinter asked, his voice thick with worry.

Donatello answered his father's question. "Bishop had him. He did some kind of surgery on Raph, but I need to get him into the infirmary to find out what Bishop did." Don said briefly. 

The brothers placed Raph gently on the medical bed in the infirmary. 

Raph, a little more aware, groaned in agony, his hands clutching at his lower abdomen. "It hurts! Oh God, Donny, it hurts!" Raph cried out.

His family exchanged worried glances, understanding that their brother was in an extreme amount of pain. Donny wasn't sure what Bishop had done to Raph in such a short amount of time.

"Raph," Leo began gently. "Do you know what Bishop did to you?"

"He cut me open like a tin can, that's what he did! God, Donny, he was planning on dissecting me! What the hell did he do to me?" He asked, his voice shaking in pain and fear.

Raph's family exchanged looks of horror. "I need to get Raph x-rayed immediately." Don said. "I need everyone out of the room while I do that." 

Everyone but Leo reluctantly left the room, anxiously waiting for the results of the x-ray. Don quickly grabbed a pair of scissors and carefully cut away the bandages. Don ignored Leo's gasp of horror as he observed the large square that had been cut into Raph's lower plastron. Raph's belt was missing, which Don hadn't really noticed before, but with the location of the cut, he wasn't too surprised by its absence. There was some dried blood surrounding the cut, which looked to have been fixed with glue and fiberglass.

"I need to get him x-rayed now, Leo." Don said, praying that Bishop had not taken out anything that Raph needed, or placed anything unwanted inside his brother's abdominal cavity.

Don had a mobile x-ray machine, and he moved it over beside his injured brother. He turned off the lights, and he and Leo donned lead coats. Raph was told not to move as a few pictures were taken. 

With shaking hands, Don examined each x-ray in turn, but could see no important organs that seemed to be missing. Nor was there any foreign object placed within his brother's abdominal cavity. "Well, it doesn't look like Bishop took out or did anything, Raph. You look completely healthy on the inside to me." Don said. "You'll be in an extreme amount of pain for about a month. But don't worry, you'll heal and be back to punching your old punching bag again." 

Raph let out a groan of relief, glad to hear that Bishop hadn't done anything horrible to him while he had been unconscious. More bandages were applied to Raph's torso, more as a precaution to make sure that the epoxy and fiberglass held.

Then Don put an IV into Raph's right hand. And after he was done treating Raph, it was Leo's turn.

Leo could have cared less about himself during all that time being concerned about Raph, but now that the drama was over, Leo allowed Donny to clean, disinfect, and bandage the cuts on both of his arms.   
……….

Master Splinter and Mikey waited anxiously outside the lab, when Don finally opened the door.

"How is he, Donatello?" Splinter asked worriedly.

"He's going to be fine, Sensei." Don answered. "Nothing seems to be missing." 

"Can we see him?" Mikey asked softly. 

"Sure, but be careful, Mikey. He's in a lot of pain. I put him on an IV for now and gave him what pain medication that I could." Don said. 

Mike and Master Splinter entered the infirmary. Raph was trying to rest right now.

"Raph, you're going to pull through this, Bro." Mikey said with a wide, relieved grin.

"Of course he will, Mikey. He's tough." Leo said. "His plastron just needs to heal."

"What exactly was done to him, Donatello?" Splinter asked.

"Bishop cut a square in his plastron to do some examining of his organs or something. Raph doesn't know what he did otherwise. So far, it seems he did a dissection, and all of his major organs are intact. I don't know why Bishop opened Raph up. Maybe he took a few biopsies or just wanted to have a look. I know the x-rays don't give me a really clear picture of Raph's soft tissues, but I'm reluctant to open him up again." Don explained. 

"Just keep an eye on him, Donatello, to make sure he does not injure himself by trying to recover faster than what he is able to. He needs his rest." Splinter advised.

"Yes, Father." Don agreed.

"And now that Raphael is in stable condition, I suggest we all go to bed. It has been a long night." Master Splinter advised. It was an order, not a suggestion. But for now, Don wanted to stay up with Raph.

"No Donny." Leo said, placing a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "I'll take the first watch. You get some sleep. I'll come and get you if anything happens." Leo said as Don reluctantly went to bed. 

Leo sat down near Raph's cot, and kept watch over his injured brother. The drugs that Don had given his hot-headed sibling had dulled the pain enough that he was able to fall asleep. "Raph, I'm so sorry this happened to you, Bro. You are going to be alright. You'll pull through this; you always do." 

………

Several hours later, Don came in to take over for Leo. He found his oldest sibling sound asleep on Raph's bed, his hand clutched tightly around their injured sibling's hand.

Don smiled at the love shown between the two brothers, who were most at odds with each other. Raph was there for Leo when he was hurt, now Leo would be there for Raph when he was hurt. Don went up to Leo, and gently shook him awake. "I'll take over now, Leo." 

"How long was I asleep?" Leo asked, instantly awake and alert.

"That I don't know, but I'll take over now. I got some sleep and am ready to watch him." Don said. "Mikey's making breakfast right now, and Master Splinter has canceled training for the next few days. He believes that none of us would be able to concentrate with Raph injured as he is."

Leo nodded his agreement at his father's observation. "Thanks Don. But what about you? Have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet, but if you can bring me a plate, I would appreciate it." Don said. Leo nodded and went to go freshen up a bit. 

Don observed that Raph was still sleeping, which wasn't unexpected, but Don needed to wake his brother up to see how he was feeling... 

Raph moaned in his sleep, but did not wake. Don sighed and decided to let his brother sleep for a while longer. Raph probably wouldn't feel like eating Mikey's cooking anyway, not because he didn't like it; Raph loved Mikey's cooking, but the pain would no doubt dampen any appetite his brother would normally have.

Don walked over and examined the x-rays again, pouring over every detail, in case he had missed something. Again, and he still found nothing wrong. Still, he suspected Bishop had done something more than just open Raph up and poke around for fun.

Master Splinter took over looking after Raph next. 

By late morning, Raph had finally managed to wake up. He had no desire to try to eat, and instead, suffered through his pain, mostly in silence. Raph didn't like feeling helpless, and he hated being hurt, but in this case, Raph was hurt badly enough that he didn't seem to mind being fussed over, mostly by Leo and Don. They did what they could for him. Don tried to keep Raph on enough pain medication that he was pretty groggy, and faded in and out of consciousness.

April and Casey were told of what happened, and April made sure that Don had enough medical supplies.  
………. 

After a few days, Don began cutting back on Raph's pain medication so he was conscious more often, though he was still in a great deal of pain. He finally found some strength to sit up slightly, and eat some soup. If his brother was able to eat more and get more fluids into his body, Don would be able to remove the IV from his brother's arm. 

Raph was not allowed to walk around and was only moved for short trips to the bathroom. He would be on bed-rest for another few weeks, just to make sure that his plastron was healed enough, and would not crack under the pressure of renewed activity.

Though Don wished he knew what Bishop had done to his older brother, and why.


	6. Chapter 6

It had now been a week since Raph’s abduction and subsequent rescue from Bishop. He still had pain in his lower abdomen, but it had dulled down over the past few days. Don still kept him on pain medication, which kept the worst of the remaining pain at bay. But today, Don was finally going to remove him from his IV. Raph was thankful for this small mercy, because being hooked up to that damn pole and having to drag it to the bathroom with him had really started to piss him off. 

Raph was able to eat normally again -at least in small quantities- and Don seemed to be satisfied with his progress, as well as his vitals being normal. It still bothered Don not knowing or understanding Bishop’s reasons for sawing open his plastron and cutting him open, but Raph didn’t care. Bishop was a sick Fuck, there was no understanding him. The important part was that he would be able to get out of this damn bed soon. 

The bandages that had been wrapped around Leo’s arms had been removed. The still healing lacerations giving testament to the brutal battle fought with Bishop during his rescue. Leo had of course, shrugged off his injuries, believing they were nothing in comparison to what Raph had suffered in Bishop’s hands.

Raph sighed in boredom. Leo and his other brothers were back in training, and Raph had to suffer listening to their training sessions, unable to participate. He was getting so stir crazy that he was beginning to daydream about training. 

He imagined that Mikey was picking on him and he was able to kick his brother’s ass. He craved the ability to test his own skills against Leo’s more rigid fighting style, as well as giving Don tips on perfecting his own passive style, and making him tougher. But that was not going to happen for a couple of months. Raph sighed heavily to himself. He just hoped he wouldn’t go crazy by then.

Unfortunately for him, unlike Leo's injuries, which had only taken a little over a week to heal, his plastron was going to take months to heal enough so that there would be no danger of cracking, or separation of the now, delicate scutes. It was going to be a long while before he was allowed to go topside again, this time due to an injury as opposed to a punishment. It was too bad that both felt the same. 

Raph could already feel the stirrings of boredom and anxiousness that he usually felt when he was unable to get fresh air, blow off some steam, or exercise. He could only hope that Donnie let him out of this damn bed and at least let him wander around the lair soon. He wanted to be fully healed yesterday, but even Raph realized that it was an unrealistic goal. 

……….

Three weeks passed, and Raph was now allowed out of his bed, but he still wasn’t allowed any physical activity, which included anything more strenuous than a walk from his bed to the couch, and the couch to the kitchen, and the kitchen to the bathroom, or any combination of the three. His plastron was still healing and the thick swath of bandages wrapped around his torso served as a constant reminder that he was still not completely healed.

Though Raph was beginning to feel a little more like himself. Don had offered up a strict set of exercises that he could begin, but they were more leg and arm exercises, nothing that involved his torso in any way. And although Raph found these exercises to be unsatisfying, he knew they were better than nothing.

Don was testing Raph's reflexes daily, as well as taking various blood samples to run, in case Bishop had done something that Donnie was unable to see, though so far, every test had come back normal.

Unbeknownst to Raph, his brothers had begun noticing certain temperamental changes within their hotheaded brother, but none of them were overly concerned at the moment, attributing the change to Raph's run-in with Bishop and his subsequent injury.

Of course, having Raph out of commission for so long was also having an adverse effect on the youngest turtle. Mikey was getting a bit restless and annoyed that one of his best friends couldn't’t train with him. 

But now that Raph was up and about again, and Don was letting him exercise a little more, Mikey figured that it was about time for him to pull a gentle prank on his hotheaded older brother. Mikey figured it was time for his brother to have a little fun and excitement back in his life, and Mikey knew he was just the one to do this. The calmer, more passive Raph was beginning to worry him a little bit. He knew Raph was restricted with his activities, but all he ever seemed to do was eat, sleep, read, watch TV, and help Don with his bike, as long as he didn't strain himself.

Leo missed having Raph by his side when they ran missions topside, but for the moment, he was glad they had been able to bring their brother home, and that he had not been injured worse, because Leo knew that with Raph in Bishop's hands, his brother could have been so much worse. And although Raph's current laid back behavior was causing Leo a slight bit of apprehension, he was more thankful that he no longer had to fight with his brother in regards to battle strategies and sneaking out.

While his brothers were topside, Raph spent some time with Master Splinter. Splinter was trying to help his hotheaded son to become more grounded and focused. The wise rat had noticed Raph’s calmer temper too, and he could’t help but feel that something was not quite right, but was unable to determine the cause of his son's sudden change in temperament.

Mikey sat on his bed, trying to think up of a good way to prank Raph that wouldn't end up hurting his still healing brother. His eyes strayed across his room and fell upon the black rubber legs of a Halloween spider, half buried under a pile of comic books.

Mikey grinned from ear to ear in devious excitement. He knew of his older brother's intense fear of bugs, and knew of the perfect way to prank his hotheaded sibling that wouldn't cause him to hurt himself.

That night, Leo and Don went topside, while Mikey, wanting to pull his prank, stayed at home, intending to keep Raph company, and lie in wait for the perfect opportunity to scare his red clad brother. Though Mikey did admit to himself that he had enjoyed many a good evening in Raph's company since he had been bedridden and lair bound. 

Mikey knew that Leo and Don were going to be gone for a few hours and Splinter had gone to bed. He and Raph were sitting on the couch watching a few monster movies, which meant that soon Raph would be bored and fall asleep.

A little over an hour later, Raph was fast asleep and snoring on the couch, which meant that Mikey now had a perfect opportunity to set up his little prank.

He quickly ran to his room, and grabbed his rubber spider, along with some string. 

………

Mikey deftly finished tying the string, with the attached spider, to his brother's bedroom door. He grinned wickedly to himself, knowing that all he had to do now, was wait. 

He went back to the living room to check on Raph, who was still sleeping peacefully on the couch. Mikey knew that Raph would have to go to his room eventually. 

Mikey sat back down on the couch to finish watching his monster movie. Don and Leo came home shortly after. Upon hearing his two older siblings enter the lair, Mikey stealthily snuck off to his room to lay in wait. He knew that Leo would wake Raph up from the couch and make him go to bed. Raph was sleeping in his room again and had been grateful to sleep in his hammock again, rather than the uncomfortable 'hospital' cot that had been set up in Donnie's lab.

Both Leo and Don were exhausted from the run, and from fighting some petty thugs they had encountered on the streets. And now it was time to go to bed. 

Leo walked into the living room and saw Raph sleeping on the couch. Leo looked around and realized that Mikey must have gone to bed already. Maybe Raph had stayed up later and had fallen asleep watching TV. Leo went over to the couch, turned the TV off, and gently shook Raph awake. 

“Raph, you'll get a better night’s sleep in your own bed.” He told his brother gently.

"Leo?" Raph questioned with a frown as he opened his eyes and saw his older brother hunched over the couch. Raph groaned and sat up. "Mikey's movies were so boring, I musta fallen asleep.” Raph yawned, giving a slight stretch.

Leo chuckled slightly.“Ok, but now it's time to get you to your own room.” Leo said, as he helped his younger sibling to his feet. Raph's legs shook slightly before Raph pulled away from Leo's helping hands. 

"I'm beat." Don agreed, as the three brothers slowly made their way to their respective bedrooms.

Raph groggily opened his bedroom door, intent on falling into his hammock and sleeping until mid afternoon at the very least. But when Raph opened his door, the string that Mikey had set up snapped, and a HUGE spider came down on his head. 

"AUGGGGGH!" Raph cried out, flailing his arms about his head wildly, trying to get the giant arachnid off of his head, and somehow failing.

Raph's screams alerted his brothers, two of whom came running in, worried apprehension that Raph had somehow injured himself. 

“Get it off!” Raph screamed . He had fallen down onto his carapace, struggling fiercely against the spider. “Get it off!”

The hallway light was quickly turned on, and Leo saw his brother struggling with something black on his face. He swiftly ran forward, intent on helping his struggling and terrified brother. 

“Hold still, Raph, and I’ll get it off.” Leo ordered.

The blue masked turtle finally managed to pull the rubber spider off of Raph's head.

“It’s just a rubber spider, Raph.” Leo soothed, biting down any hint of anger as his suspicions of the spider's origins ran through his head.

“I don’t care! I HATE bugs!" Raph snarled angrily.

Don knelt down, concern and worry for Raph etched deeply into his face. “How does your stomach feel, Raph? Does it hurt?” He asked.

"It's fine, Donny.” Raph bit out in embarrassment.

A soft snicker emanated from Mikey's room. They all heard a snicker at the door. 

“Mikey." Leo growled as his orange clad brother stepped slowly into the hallway. “Did you do this?" Leo asked with a stern frown, already knowing the answer.

“I had to do something fun!" He defended. "Raph's been acting weird. I thought this might liven him up, put the old spark back." Mikey pouted slightly.

“Mikey, he could have been injured all over again!” Don snapped at him.

"I was just having some fun. Besides, I knew that he wouldn't get hurt. I thought about that when I thought of the prank." Mikey grumbled, kicking his foot and staring at the floor.

Don slowly helped Raph up from the floor. They could all tell that Raph was angry, judging by his narrowed eyes -which were glaring at Mikey- and the clenched set of his jaw.

Mikey looked up from where he had been staring at his feet, took one look at Raph's face and bolted. 

"Aren't you going after him?” Don asked when Raph did not give chase to Mikey as he usually did.

"I'll get him later. Right now, I’m not going to bother. I’m tired.” Raph said with an unconcerned wave of his hand.

Leo and Don shared a concerned look, knowing that this was not Raph's usual response when Mikey pranked him. 

“Ok... Sleep well.” Leo said, as Raph turned and walked into his room, shutting the door gently behind him.

“He might have been hurt by his fall, and not wanting to admit it.” Don softly offered up the explanation for Raph's uncharacteristic behavior. Leo nodded in agreement, a worried frown pulling at his mouth and putting lines between his eye ridges.

Mikey quickly realized that Raph was not chasing him. Mikey felted stunned at first and then ashamed; realizing that he may have unintentionally hurt Raph. But he knew that his brother would get better and so made plans to pull other more elaborate pranks on Raph when his brother was fully recovered. 

Raph would figure out a prank later on to get Mikey back for doing the spider prank to him. But right now, he needed to focus more on recovering more.


	7. Chapter 7

Don pulled the needle from Raph's neck, as his brother held a cotton ball to his throat above the artery from where Donatello had taken the blood sample. Raph waited patiently for the bleeding to stop. 

Don had decided to begin running some tests on his older brother. He had tested Raph's blood before, but had decided to test some arterial blood, in case he had missed something that was broken down once it hit the regular blood stream. Don knew that Raph was still recovering from his injuries, and that it had only been seven weeks since Raph's abduction; but his brother's normally hot-headed demeanor seemed to be disturbingly absent. 

Not that this wasn't a somewhat pleasant turn of events; not having to fight with Raph every step of the way in regards to his recovery. But his red clad brother's easy compliance and acceptance of the restrictions placed upon him because of his injuries was beginning to put their entire family on edge.

Don waited for Raph to growl at him and tell him to stop poking and prodding at him, and to ask when he could begin training again. Don steeled himself for the inevitable fight. Raph's plastron was healing well, but it still needed another week to heal to the point where Don would feel comfortable letting Raph begin to train again. 

"Thanks, Donny." Raph said as he slid off the examination table. 

Don blinked in shock. "You're welcome." Don responded in a somewhat faint voice.

"You're not worried about somethin' are you, Donny?" Raph asked in concern, as he nodded towards the vial of blood that was clutched in Don's hand.

"Um..." Don began as Raph's eye ridges rose in questioned surprise. "No, no." Don shook his head quickly from side to side. "Just checking your blood count. You lost a lot of blood, so I am just making sure that it is recovering sufficiently." He lied. "How are you feeling? " Don asked. "Tired, nauseous? Is there still pain in your lower abdomen?" Don asked in a rush of questions to cover up his lie. He generally never lied to any of his family, but he didn't want to worry Raph unnecessarily.

Raph just nodded and threw the cotton ball into the waste basket as he turned to leave.

"Uh... weren't you going to ask me when you could begin training again?" Don asked trying to keep his voice level; even though he found that it came out slightly strangled and wavering anyway.

Raph paused and looked at him over his shoulder, giving a one shouldered shrug. "I figured you would tell me when I'm ready." Raph answered.

Don nodded as if this made perfect sense, even though a wave of trepidation flowed along his skin, giving him goose-bumps. Raph seemed to be waiting for something and Don realized he was patiently waiting for Don to give him an answer to the question Don himself had posed. "About another week." He answered quickly.

Raph just gave a curt nod of his head and walked from Don's lab. Don stumbled back and fell into his computer chair, more disturbed from his conversation with his older brother than he should have been.

Don stared at the vial of blood in his hand. He knew that he should be glad that Raph's attitude seemed to have changed for the better. And although he could hypothesize that Raph's encounter with Bishop had suddenly instilled within his hot-headed brother patience, prudence, and politeness; Don couldn't help feeling that something was seriously wrong with his brother. 

………..

Mikey watched as Raph emerged from Don's lab. Raph hadn't seen him yet. His brother looked distracted and was absently rubbing the inside of his elbow.

Mikey frowned slightly in worry. His brother wasn't the same old Raph that he used to be. He felt like Raph had turned into a Leo clone, or a Don clone. Raph didn't act or seem like himself and that was beginning to make Mikey worry.

Mikey didn't like to worry. It was not in his nature to worry for extended periods of time. Usually his sunny, optimistic nature would quickly reassert itself after the crisis had passed, only this time, the crisis had long since passed and Mikey hadn’t yet regained his cheerful outlook. Raph was healing but... Mikey could still feel the sick ball of lead sitting in his stomach, and it just wouldn't seem to go away.

Each day he woke up, expecting to see the fire light his big brother's amber gaze, and each day Raph would just continue on with his day, resting, watching TV, and generally just lying around and being a model patient. A fact that was seriously beginning to creep him out.

"Where did my hot-headed brother go?" Mikey asked himself quietly as he watched Raph walk towards the living room to go and sit on the couch.

Mikey had even pulled a few minor pranks on Raph, and although his brother had gotten irritated, he had never once tried to catch Mikey when he ran, nor did he try to get Mikey back. Although he would admit that Raph had growled at him and threatened him, Raph hadn't made good on any of his threats; yet.

After a particularly good prank, Mikey would usually have to sleep at least a week with one eye open, waiting for revenge, or a really good beating. Mikey had believed at first that Raph was just making him really sweat, just to add to the paranoia and jittery nerves that Mikey had begun suffering, and although this was still a possibility, it was behavior more suited to Leo than Raph. Raph just didn't have the patience to not exact retribution within the first week, and the fact that he hadn't yet been paid back for even the spider incident, worried him more than he was willing to admit to his other brothers.

Mikey slowly followed Raph into the living room. "So what'd Donny say?" Mikey asked cheerily, not allowing any of his inner turmoil to show in his voice or on his face. 

Raph paused before sitting down, giving a slight shrug. "Says everything looks good, and that I can start training in another week."

Mikey forced his grin wider. "That's great! We haven't been able to spar for so long, I've been waiting to make you pay for getting caught by Bishop and worrying us."

Raph gave a half smile. "I'll still kick your ass, Mikey."

Mikey's smile fell into more genuine lines. That sounded more like something the old Raph would say. "That sounds more like the old Raph." He heard himself say, his thoughts slipping past his lips.

Raph frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?" Raph asked quietly. Raph had seemed to freeze, as if every muscle and every suddenly taunt line of his body was expecting an important answer.

Mikey bit his lip, knowing that somehow his words bothered his older brother. Yet at the same time, he felt that Raph needed to know the truth.

"Well," he began slowly, picking his words with more care than he usually would. "Just that... I know you had a rough time with Bishop, and that you were hurt pretty bad and stuff, but... I don't know, you haven't really seemed yourself lately... You don't get mad at me like you used to..." Mikey's voice trailed off as he looked into his brother's pained amber eyes.

"I know." Raph admitted softly. "I feel... different... I guess." Raph shrugged as if trying to shake off whatever dark feeling that had slid over him. "But I'm still me." Raph reassured him, even though his voice didn't seem all that certain. 

Mikey narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what to say. He didn't want to hurt his brother's feelings so he pasted a bright smile on his face and chuckled, a sound that sounded only slightly forced. "Well then, prove it. I challenge you to Rush Raiders 4. See if you still have what it takes to beat me."

Raph gave a confident smile, his previous worry and gloom vanishing. "Sure thing, Shell-for-brains." He said, wrapping an arm around Mikey's shoulders, pulling him in close, and giving him a noogie.

Mikey pulled out of his older brother's grip.

…………

Donnie watched as Raph gave Mikey a playful noogie as the two walked to the living room to play some video games.

Donnie looked over as Leo approached him. He was dripping in sweat and his breathing was slightly heavy. It was obvious that Leo had been training in the dojo, and had come to Donnie to find out the results of Raph's almost daily check-up.

Leo wiped the sweat from his brow as he approached. "So? How is he, Donnie?" Leo asked, his voice low and tinged with worry.

Donnie sighed and rubbed his fingers across his eyes before answering. "His plastron is healing well. He should take it easy for another week and then he should be up for some light training and exercise."

Leo nodded, a frown pulling down the corners of his lips. He flicked a glance at Raph before his eyes went back to Donnie, his voice lowering slightly. "Is he really okay, Donnie? I mean..." He paused as if he were unsure how to continue before gathering his thoughts and speaking again. "Does Raph seem... different to you?" His voice was now no more than a hesitant whisper.

Donnie didn't answer his brother's question; instead, he motioned with his head towards his lab and began walking. Leo followed close on his heels and Donnie shut the lab door behind them both once Leo slipped through the door.

"He does seem different." Donnie reluctantly agreed to Leo's earlier question. Donnie walked to the fridge and pulled out Raph's blood sample. "I still don't understand what Bishop was trying to do to Raph. Injuries aside, his personality has undergone a change these past few weeks."

"Do you think Bishop was trying to change his personality somehow?" Leo asked, concern lacing every one of his words.

"I would be more concerned about that if Bishop was rooting around in Raph's head. Besides, Raph's too damn stubborn for even Bishop to change his personality." Donnie said with a slight smile as he walked over and placed Raph's blood sample in a centrifuge. "But besides being slightly more even tempered, he still seems like the same old Raph." Donnie pointed out as he walked over and slumped back down in his computer chair.

"Well, it's possible that Raph learned his lesson and realized that if he hadn't been such a hot-head, that he wouldn't have been captured by Bishop in the first place." Leo suggested half in hope, half in doubt.

Donnie gave a weak nod of agreement, not quite able to believe that Raph would change because he had nearly been dissected. Raph had too many near-death experiences under his belt to let something like his run in with Bishop to faze him.

He and Leo fell into a contemplative silence; each absorbed in their own thoughts and theories.

“Do you want to help me?” Donnie asked into the deep silence.

Leo blinked in shock. “Huh?”

“I need some help rebuilding the engine on Raph’s bike. I usually get Raph to help but…” Donnie let his sentence hang. 

Leo nodded, indicating that he was willing to help.

They spent the next couple hours pulling apart Raph’s bike and cleaning the engine so that when Raph felt better, his bike would run like a dream.

“Do you think Raph will appreciate this?” Leo grumbled as he wiped the grease from his fingers.

“No.” Donnie stated emphatically. “But at least I know that the bike will work properly, and Raph will be safe.” Donatello replied softly.

Leo’s movements slowed in wiping the grease from his hands as he nodded slowly. 

The door to Donnie’s lab burst open and Mikey strode in. “Donnie, Bishop’s cloned Raph, or he’s a robot… or a cyborg.” Mikey stated flatly. There was no humor in his voice, only worry, frustration, and fear.

Leo and Donnie shared a look before turning their attention back to Mikey. “What happened?” Leo asked with worry.

“Raph beat me!” Mikey said with indignation.

Leo and Donnie gave each other another shared look, this time it was confused and uncertain.

“So?” Leo stated. “And where is Raph now?” Leo asked, staring pointedly at the still open lab door.

“He went to bed, said he was tired. He was out like a light in minutes.” Mikey waved off Leo’s concern and continued with his initial complaint. “You don’t understand, Leo, Raph never beats me!” Mikey paused for effect. “Ever.”

“Mikey, I’m sure Raph has just gotten better since he’s been doing nothing but playing video games for almost seven weeks straight.” Leo soothed.

Mikey strode up to Leo, placing his hands on his shoulders and staring deep into his older brother’s eyes. “Leo, I have been playing video games for as long as I have been able to hold one in my hands. Raph has NEVER beaten me. He always gets too frustrated. He’s never patient enough or focused enough to win. Leo, Raph was a machine.” Mikey was practically panting now.

Leo gently pulled Mikey’s hands away from his shoulders. “Calm down Mikey, Raph is not a clone or a robot…” Leo paused and looked at Donnie for confirmation of this fact. 

“Raph isn’t a cyborg or a robot, Mikey. I would have noticed the metal parts in the x-rays. As for Raph being a clone…” Donnie paused as he gave the clone theory serious thought. “Raph has distinctive scarring all over his skin, plastron, and carapace, all of which wouldn’t be present on a clone. And even if Bishop was able to somehow replicate Raph’s scars, he would have difficulty aging the cloned version of Raph to the correct age and then slowing the aging process down. And I don’t believe that Bishop has either the technology or the facilities to do something that complex.”

Leo and Mikey stared at Donnie for a few seconds as if they were not quite sure whether to believe him or not.

Donnie blinked. “Raph’s not a clone.” Donnie reiterated, trying to reassure his two brothers, who were staring at him with uneasiness. 

Leo finally nodded. “I’m sure Raph’s just bored.” Leo tried to soothe Mikey’s ruffled feathers. “When he begins training again, I’m sure he’ll start acting like himself again.”

Mikey’s eyes narrowed. “No, he’s not, that’s the problem!” Mikey practically shouted. “Remember when Raph had his ribs broken; or how ‘bout that time he had a concussion, the broken leg, or the punctured liver?” Mikey’s voice slipped into an irritated mocking snarl, with a hint of fear.

Donnie and Leo were so surprised at his tone of voice that they only nodded. Donnie remembered. Raph was cranky, antagonistic, and impatient. And constantly, he tried to get out of bed and train way before he was able.

“Well… okay.” Was all Donnie was able to think of to say. Leo was stunned into silence, his face falling into uneasy, contemplative lines.

“Thank you!” Mikey motioned with his hand and nodded. “How about Raph possessed by a… nice demon? Or mind control? Or…” Mikey was cut off by Donnie’s printer suddenly printing out the results of Raph’s blood test.

Donnie turned and strode over to the printer, pulling out the page and scanning it briefly. He let out an irritated breath when he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He shook his head and put the paper down on his desk. It was then that his brain caught up with his eyes and he quickly snatched the results up from the table again. 

His eyes scanned the page and found what he was looking for. His mind tried and failed to understand what he was looking at. He could feel the blood drain from his face as he rushed over to where he had placed Raph’s x-rays.

With shaky hands, Donnie picked up one x-ray after another, searching for something that was no longer present. “Oh, God.” Donnie whispered in horror as the x-rays fell from his numb fingers.

Leo was suddenly at his side, Mikey looking on with fearful worry. “Donnie?” Leo’s voice shook with dread. 

“I know what Bishop did to Raph.” Donnie whispered wretchedly.

Leo and Mikey shared a look of anxiety before turning their undivided attention back to Donnie.

Donnie continued to stare at the results, not able to answer his brother’s unasked question. 

“Is he going to be okay?” Leo finally asked into the silence of the room, his voice soft and wavering.

Donnie contemplated how to answer the question, and did not know how to answer. Finally, Don just told his brothers what was wrong with Raph, not able to truthfully answer Leo’s question.

“Raph’s testosterone levels are… are down.”

Leo and Mikey shared a confused look. “Okay.” Leo began urging Donnie to go on.

“They are so low, as to be non-existent.” Donnie whispered miserably.

Leo frowned, and then his frown cleared as he understood the significance of what Donnie had told them.   
Leo shook his head fiercely from side to side. “No, Donnie, Bishop didn’t…” Leo couldn’t finish his sentence.

Donnie just stared at Leo bleakly, nodding slowly.

“Oh, God.” Leo whispered the same words Donnie had spoken a few minutes before.

Mikey looked fearfully back and forth between Leo and Donnie. “I don’t understand. What’s going on? Why are you guys looking like that? What did Bishop do to Raph?”

Donnie and Leo shared a regretful look and Leo looked to Donnie to explain to Mikey what Bishop had done.

Donnie bit his lip and then finally answered, explaining slowly and carefully. “Bishop… Bishop cut out Raph’s… reproductive organs.” 

“Um… I think Raph would have noticed that.” Mikey said, looking back and forth from Leo and Donnie, finally settling back on Donnie. 

“No Mikey, he wouldn’t. Bishop…” Donnie tried to explain patiently.

“Wait, are you saying Bishop ripped out his-”

“Yes.” Donnie firmly answered, interrupting Mikey.

Mikey turned several shades paler and then went a disturbing shade of grey-green. Donnie rushed to Mikey’s side before he fainted and helped his baby brother to his computer chair.

Donnie got his baby brother a glass of water and waited until his skin returned to a healthier shade.

“So, Raph’s been neutered?” Mikey said in a blunt, colorless voice.

“Yeah.” Donnie answered quietly.

Mikey nodded, as if all of the pieces of the puzzle had finally fallen into place.

They all fell into a thick, oppressive, uncomfortable silence. Mikey finally broke it first. “So what do we tell Raph?” He asked in a small, miserable voice. “Raph’s like… he’s a… man’s man… but he’s a turtle…you know what I mean.’ Mikey said, getting flustered.

“We don’t tell Raph anything.” Leo answered quickly.

Mikey and Donnie shared a horrified look. 

“We are not going to tell him.” Leo reaffirmed. “Telling him won’t help him, and it will only make him… feel… less.” 

Mikey bit his lip and nodded in agreement.

“So what do we do?” Mikey asked as Donnie frowned in contemplation.

“I could tell him he’s diabetic and begin giving him shots of testosterone. It will help bring back the 'old' Raph." Donnie suggested.

"Do it." Leo ordered. “I'll go talk to Master Splinter, and tell him...what that monster did to Raph. In the meantime, Donnie, find Bishop. We are going to make him pay." Leo turned and strode angrily from the lab.

Don and Mikey shared a miserable look, but knew that Leo was right. They were going to track down Bishop and get revenge for what he had taken from Raph. And they all knew that Raph could never find out what Bishop had done, nor could he be present when they got their revenge for Raph, because Bishop may let something slip, and that could never happen.


	8. Chapter 8

Donnie blew out a breath, shaking out his hands before rubbing his sweating palms across his thighs in nervousness. He hated lying, mostly because he was a bad liar. He just hoped that he would be able to lie to his older brother about his test results well enough that Raph wouldn't suspect him of anything.

He rubbed at his tired eyes. He knew that he was going to have to begin to give Raph shots of testosterone, but that was something he did not keep on hand. Most of the drugs he was able to get from April, others were 'appropriated' from ambulances that idled outside of the hospitals with their doors wide open while patients were being transported inside.

The testosterone was something that would be harder to get a hold of. He had wracked his brain to come up with a solution and had hit upon an idea. He had called April and told her about the situation and swore her to secrecy. Casey could not know what was going on. Casey would not be able to keep a secret, especially not about something as horrible as Raph suddenly being neutered. 

April had of course been suitably horrified and had promised to help in any way she could. Donnie had then told her of his plan to get the drugs Raph would need. It only required Donnie to hack into the Med-center closest to April's apartment, create a patient chart and number, and then electronically send the prescriptions and the dosage to the pharmacy just down the block from April's. April could then go pick up 'her husband's' prescription. 

April was actually on her way to pick up the prescription right now so that Raph could begin his 'treatment' right away.

Donnie knew that telling Raph he had diabetes was not going to be easy and he may have been able to think of a more likely scenario, but it was the first thing that had popped into his mind to explain the need for getting an injection once a month. Although Donnie knew this would not be the actual treatment for anyone with type 2 diabetes, Donnie figured that Raph wouldn't know this and probably wouldn't ask too many questions; at least he hoped he wouldn't.

Raph strolled into his lab, a slightly worried look upon his face.

Donnie had told Leo to go and tell Raph to meet him in his lab for his test results.

"Geez, Donnie, the look you're givin' me right now is freakin' me out." Raph tried for light-hearted, but his eyes looked worried, which was not an emotion Donnie was used to seeing on his hot-headed brother's face.

Donnie tried to smile, but had a feeling that the smile probably looked gruesome. “I have the results of your blood test, Raph.” Donnie said, not bothering to answer his brother's implied question. He motioned for his brother to take a seat. 

“I’m fine, right?” Raph asked, sitting down opposite Donnie.

“Yes, you will be." Donnie answered with a nod of his head.

"Will be?" Raph questioned, his frown growing deeper.

"I know you haven't really been feeling quite like yourself lately, and I managed to figure out why."

"Come on Donnie, quit stallin' and just tell me what's goin' on." Raph huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You have Type 2 Diabetes." He informed his brother.

"I have what?" Raph asked in confusion. "Isn't that the thing with the needles and that test where you gotta poke your finger a million times a day to check your blood sugar or something?"

"Uh... yes." Donnie said, clearly surprised that his brother knew anything about diabetes. "But you have Type 2, not Type 1." He quickly put in. "Which means you don't have to check your blood sugar every day or anything like that. All you have to do is change your diet, nothing overly high in sugar, and I will give you a shot of insulin every month. I have no doubt that you will start feeling like your old self soon enough." Donnie told his brother, somehow managing the lie about the diabetes and the insulin shot that was in actuality, a shot of testosterone.

"How'd I get diabetes? I ain't fat." Raph questioned Donnie.

Donnie swallowed. "These things just happen sometimes. It is possible that our systems aren't designed to intake as much sugar as we have been. We are after all, mutant turtles. Most pet turtles don't get to gorge themselves on chocolate ice cream, cake, pop, sugary cereal-"

"Okay, Donnie, I get it." Raph said, holding up his hand, interrupting him. Raph sat on the chair in shock for a few minutes. 

“I’ll go online and find out more about what you should be eating.” Don told him, “I'll get a list made up and I'll phone April, tell her what is going on, get her to get the medicine and go shopping for some nice healthy food for you.” 

Raph frowned but nodded. "Do I have to give up everything?" Raph asked.

“Not everything, but you are going to have to cut back on a lot of things you love. We’re going to do everything we can to help you live as normally as possible, but this is something you will have to live with for the rest of your life.” Don told his brother softly, feeling guilty about perpetrating the lie, but knowing that the truth was far, far worse. 

………

Leo walked slowly towards his father's meditation room, intent on telling the old Master the horrifying results of Raph's blood test. Leo knew that Don was telling Raph the 'results' right now, so knew that he was free to speak to his father.

Leo knelt in front of the double sliding doors, knowing that his father had already sensed his presence.

“Enter.” The old rat said softly.

Leo stood, sliding the doors open and closing them behind him. He turned and kneeled before his father and sensei. “I have some bad news about Raph, Sensei.” 

Splinter opened his eyes and looked at his eldest son. “Go on, Leonardo. How bad is it?” 

“Don performed the blood test to see what abnormalities could be found his system, and he found that Raph doesn’t have any…” Leo was a bit hesitant to say the word, “Testosterone in his system anymore.” 

Splinter’s eyes widened in shock. “What?” 

“Bishop neutered Raph, Master Splinter. That’s why he has been acting so much calmer over these several weeks. But... I don’t want Raph to know, Master. He can’t find out. It... I think it would destroy him, and Donnie has a plan to make sure that Raph never finds out, and to turn Raph into the old Raph again.” Leo then went on to explain Donnie's plan, in detail to his silently grim father. “Please, don’t tell him, Master Splinter." He begged.

Splinter was shocked and stricken by the news and remained silent as he digested what his oldest son had not only told him, but of what he asked of him as well. Splinter believed lying to be abhorrent. Leo, perhaps sensing his reluctance to agree to such a scheme, softly pointed out that Raph would feel as if he were less of a 'man', and that he was worried that Raph may go out and try to prove himself by throwing himself into a situation where he might not be able to walk away from.

Master Splinter nodded, thinking over his older son's words. Although he did not like the idea of lying to Raphael, he could see the wisdom in his oldest son's words. He could admit that there were times when lying was used to protect those you loved, and he believed that this situation was such a time. 

“Thank you for telling me this, Leonardo. I still do not like the idea of lying to Raphael about his condition, but I believe it is something that he must eventually be told. So, until you can find the right time to tell him, I will not inform him of what Bishop did to him.” 

"Thank you, Master." Leo said, bowing his head to his father. "We don’t know how to tell him right now, especially not with Bishop still out there somewhere.” Leo growled. He paused for a moment before continuing with his line of thought. "We are going to make him pay, Master." Leo promised.

"Revenge will not give Raphael back what was stolen from him." Splinter pointed out softly.

"This isn't about revenge, Master." Leo informed his father with a sharp, anger filled voice. "This is about keeping Bishop away from our family, permanently. And Raph won't know that we are out hunting for Bishop either. We want to keep him out of it." 

“I understand, Leonardo." Splinter said with a wise nod. "I generally advocate for mercy, but in this instance, I believe that you should not let Bishop off lightly. He's changed Raphael’s life; forever.” Splinter said. 

………

Leo and Mikey began a series of nightly patrols, attempting to discover Bishop and possibly ascertain the location of his new hideout. Both brothers were intent on making Bishop pay for what he had done to Raph. BIG time! 

Don stayed home on the pretext of making sure that Raph was well taken care of, but in reality, though this was partially true, it was more to keep an eye on Raph and make sure that he did not attempt to follow Leo and Mikey from the lair, and begin patrolling the streets. 

After a few weeks of searching, Leo and Mikey finally managed to locate Bishop’s new base of operations, hidden in an old apartment complex ready to be demolished in Queens.

Leo and Mikey smiled grimly at each other. Revenge was so close they both could taste it. Although Leo was generally the more merciful of the brothers, he felt absolutely merciless when it came to Bishop. His skin tingled with excitement. He wasn't getting revenge, he had told his father the truth, vengeance sounded petty. No, Leo was after something else; retribution. 

Leo motioned for Mikey to follow him. Tomorrow, Bishop would pay for what he had done to Raph.

They swiftly ran towards the lair, intent on informing Donnie of their success at locating Bishop and his base. They would spend the rest of the night planning their strategy for confronting Bishop, and managing to keep Raph in the dark about their furtive movements tomorrow night. 

They met back in Donnie's lab the next evening. “Did you figure out a way for us to get out of here without Raph figuring out that we're sneaking out?" Mikey asked as he looked towards the closed lab door. Raph was sitting on the couch watching a football game. "I mean... Raph's in no condition to fight, but if he knows we’re going out -all of us- he's gonna know that something's up, and he'll want to come. But he can't not only cause he can't fight, but cause we don't want Bishop blabbing to Raph and telling him what he actually did."

Leo nodded in agreement.

“Raph is in no condition to fight, and you are right about Bishop. So I tried to figure out a way to keep Raph here and to make sure he isn't suspicious about anything, so I added a mid sedative to Raph's water at dinner. It should be taking affect soon, so when he falls asleep, we can go. The sedative should keep him out for a good eight hours, so we have to confront Bishop and be back here before that happens.” Don said. 

They all looked at each other and nodded, knowing that all they had to do now was wait until Raph fell asleep.  
……….

Mikey strolled into the living room, followed by Leo. Donnie was getting their gear ready for tonight and loading it into the Battle Shell.

Mikey sat down beside Raph, who was already looking a little groggy.

"Hey, Raph, how ya feeling?" He asked, knowing that April had already delivered Raph's 'medicine' and Donnie had already given Raph his first shot of testosterone. So far, Mikey hadn't noticed a difference, but Donnie said it would take a few days to take effect.

“I'm feelin' tired all of a sudden.” Raph admitted in a slurred voice, looking over at his baby brother.

"Well, it is getting late." Mikey said with a slight smile.

"It's only nine o'clock, Mikey." Raph growled in protest and his heavy lids slid shut. Raph forced them back open. 

"Yeah well, you are my older brother, maybe your age is catching up to you." Mikey teased.

"Shut up, Mi-" Raph felt his eyes slide shut and he wasn't even able to finish his sentence as his world went dark.

“Sorry, Raphie, but it’s for your own good, and don't worry, we're going to make Bishop pay for what he did to you." Mikey promised his older brother as Leo helped him push Raph over and readjust him on the couch comfortably, finally placing a blanket over their sleeping brother's form. 

Leo motioned to Mikey with his head. They were to meet up with Donnie in the garage. Splinter would stay behind and take care of Raph if needed. He would also inform Raph that they had gone over to April's for a movie night if Raph happened to wake up earlier, though Donnie didn't foresee that as a possibility. 

“Is he asleep?” Don asked Leo and he and Mikey joined him in the garage. 

“Yup. Sleeping like a baby. A really big, snoring baby, but a baby nonetheless." Mikey answered with a slight grin and a nod. 

“Good, now let’s get going.” Leo ordered, as they all headed towards the Battle Shell. 

……….

Master Splinter watched his three other sons peel out of the garage off to seek vengeance, exact retribution, protect their family. 

The wise rat made his way back into the living room where Raph was still sprawled out upon the couch. He listened to Raph's steady breathing for a few moments before taking a seat upon the love seat and turning on the TV and turning on one of his shows. All he could do at the moment was look after Raph and wait until his other sons returned. 

………

Leo slowly approached the abandoned apartment complex that he had seen a few of Bishop’s men enter last night. He turned off the lights and cut the engine. 

Donnie had pulled up the schematics for the building from the city's planning commission. Knowing Bishop, he had probably demolished many of the smaller rooms, making them bigger, but his main base of operations was probably in the basement. There were service entrances that were probably heavily guarded, which is why Donnie had come up with the idea to get onto the roof, open the maintenance shaft for the elevator and slide down the shaft, hopefully to the basement.

Leo opened the door to the van and motioned for Donnie and Mikey to follow silently behind him. They stealthily made their way across the street and through an alley to the back of the building. They hadn't seen any guards yet, but just because they couldn't see them didn't mean that there weren't any.

They managed to make it to the roof of the building without being detected, or they hoped that they hadn't been. Donnie motioned for them to follow as they made their way across the rooftop to where the maintenance hatch was located.

Leo pulled his katana from its sheath and cut the padlock from the steel trap door that led into the maintenance shaft. Donnie opened the trap door with a squeaking of rusted hinges and using his flashlight he pulled from his bag, he peered down the darkened shaft.

They waited a few minutes and Donnie pulled back, motioning for them to proceed through into the shaft. Leo went first, followed by Mikey, Donnie taking up the rear. They all landed on a metal catwalk that led to a control box. Donnie walked over to the box and opened it. The elevator, which was several stories below them, began to move down towards the basement. Donnie gave a nod and Leo motioned for them to grab the cables and slide down to the car below them, where they would climb through the emergency hatch and open the elevator doors, hopefully catching any guards by surprise.

They slid down the cables, landing silently on the roof of the elevator. Mikey opened the emergency hatch, and Leo followed by Donnie, and finally Mikey dropped into the elevator. Leo unsheathed his katanas, Mikey pulled his nunchucks from his belt, and Donnie pulled his bo from his back.

They each readied themselves as Donnie hit the button to open the elevator doors.

The doors slid open, opening into a darkened shabby hallway with a concrete floor. There was no one in the hallway and so they slowly made their way down the hall, checking each room that they came upon and finding nothing.

"Are you sure this is the correct location?" Donnie asked after checking the last room on the floor and not finding any sign of Bishop or any of his men.

Leo nodded as his eyes searched the gloom that surrounded them. Donnie pulled his duffel bag open and pulled out the blueprints for the building. He began looking over the plans and frowning, his brow clearing as he dashed back towards the elevator.

"Donnie!" Leo hissed as he followed his younger brother back down the series of winding hallways.

"According to these plans this is the basement, but there is also a sub-basement of sorts. It is a series of tunnels that run under the building that used to be used as smuggling tunnels back in the 30's. Donnie entered the elevator and looked at the panel of numbers for each corresponding floor.

"This panel is new." Donnie said, tracing the lines of the metal seam. Donnie's eyes scanned the floors and stopped hitting the number 13. "This building is old enough that there shouldn't be a 13th floor. They would have just skipped it, calling the 13th floor the 14th floor instead." The elevator shifted but did not go up, instead it began to slowly make its way down.

The doors slid open and they were confronted by Bishop and 7 armed men pointing rifles at them.

"Welcome, Turtles. Come to play?" He asked with a mocking smile.

........

Bishop led them down a series of passageways and tunnels until they reached a set of metal doors that slid open as they approached.

Leo stopped just inside the door as he was roughly shoved forward by one of Bishop's men. Leo walked past jar after jar of specimens floating in some noxious substance, backlit by green lighting.

"It never ceases to amaze me that creatures such as yourself have managed to gain even one small iota of intelligence." Bishop said as he turned to face them. The guards pointed their guns at them as Bishop continued to talk.

"I expect that you have come because you have decided to get revenge for what I did to your... brother." Bishop said, clasping his arms behind his back. "But in fact, I suspect since you have realized that your normally hot tempered sibling is more even tempered."

"You had no right to-" Leo began, his voiced laced with anger.

"I did you a favor!" Bishop snapped. "I did humanity a favor. In case you freaks decide to actually try to interbreed with a human. And after such a successful operation, I believe that I will go ahead and do the same to you three freaks as well, just to make sure that such a thing never happens."

Bishop motioned for the guards to lead them towards a room that had some sort of operating table, complete with leather straps to hold them down.

Leo moved then, charging the guard that was carrying their weapons. Leo could see out of the corner of his eyes that Mikey and Donnie had begun to fight back against the 6 other guards who had opened fire.

Leo kicked the guard in the stomach and punched him in the face. The guard went down and Leo picked up his katanas, tossing Donnie's bo and Mikey's nunchucks to his brothers, who were pushing back Bishop's men. An alarm started blaring, flashing red lights strobing across the wide open space that made up Bishop's hideout.

More men began to stream in, but Leo didn't care about them. He was more interested in keeping Bishop in his sights.

Donnie and Mikey moving with grace, agility, and vengeful purpose disabled Bishop’s men swiftly and easily.

Leo performed a roundhouse kick, followed by an uppercut that landed a guard at Bishop's feet. Leo looked around at the other groaning guards, who now littered the floor in various states of consciousness. He smiled grimly to himself and turned his attention to Bishop, who pulled a gun, opening fire as he turned to run.

A sai flew through the air, knocking the gun from Bishop’s startled hand.

Leo looked at the sai in surprise as the gun clattered to the ground. Mikey had a wide satisfied smile across his face. 

"I figured if Raph couldn't be here, at least his weapons could be. Stashed them in Donnie's duffel." He said with a shrug.

Leo turned his attention back to Bishop, who scanned the area, looking for an escape. He and his brothers surrounded the former government agent, each wearing varying degrees of grim anger upon their faces.

"We know what you did to Raph can't be undone." Leo began, pointing the sharpened tip of his katana blade close to Bishop's throat. "And I tried to think of a way to make you pay for what you did to him. The only thing I could think of would be an eye for an eye, so to speak." Bishop swallowed heavily as Leo continued.

"But then I would be like you, and I am nothing like you, so this is what we came up with. Donnie." Leo motioned for Donnie, who bent down and pulled his duffel bag from his back, rummaging around through the contents and pulling out a syringe filled with a clear liquid.

Bishop tried backing away. Mikey grabbed Bishop from behind, wrenching his arms back behind his back, holding him steady as he thrashed, trying to escape Mikey's firm grip. Donnie injected the syringe right into Bishop’s neck.

Mikey let go as Leo advanced on Bishop.

"W-what did you do to me?" Bishop ground out in angry fear as he clutched at his neck. 

"I just gave you a dose of cyproterone acetate." Donnie informed Bishop as Leo stepped into Bishop's personal space, the sharpened blade of his sword pressing up against Bishop’s neck, denting the flesh and drawing a thin line of blood.

"Chemical castration was the closest thing we could come up with to make you pay for what you did to Raph." Donnie continued. "Of course, lucky for you, the effects will only last three months."

Leo got right in Bishop’s face, his eyes narrowed with deadly intent as Bishop gasped in shock.

"If you EVER come near my family again, I will do to you what you did to Raph, I swear it on my honor, and I will use this blade to do it." Leo threatened, pushing the sword deeper into Bishop’s flesh. "Do you understand?" Leo growled lowly.

Bishop grimaced but nodded slowly.

"Good." Leo replied, pushing Bishop away as he stumbled back and fell to the ground.

Leo motioned to his brothers, it was time to go home.


	9. Chapter 9

Some time had passed. It had been a few years now since Raphael's neutering. The family was doing well.

Raph was still like himself, but he was a lot calmer these days. He didn't blow up at Mikey or Leo that much as he used to before his 'cruel' operation. He had a square-shaped scar on his lower plastron from where Bishop had opened him.

Don gave Raph monthly injections of testosterone to replace what couldn't naturally be replaced. This way, he still acted nearly like his old self. He still didn't know that he had been neutered. He thought he was diabetic as to why Don gave him the shots.

Don, Leo, and Mikey were still wary of telling Raph what had happened to him.

He still loved to fight out on the streets. But these days, he had to be more careful, because he had somebody special at home that waited on him to come home every night, and didn't want him hurt. Of course, all the turtles did.

Within the last few years, all the turtles had found special girls to make them feel more complete. They had had to relocate to a new lair, as it had just become too crowded in the old lair. This one was a fairly good size. Each girl had been a rescue on the streets while on training runs or patrols.

Raph was the first one to get a girl, who was named Sara. She was 22. A tall, brown haired girl. She had brown eyes as well. She was about 5'6. She was a calm woman, but knew how to stand up for herself. Especially against Raph. She sure did know how to calm him down from his bad temper. But his temper didn't show that much about such little things anymore. When it did, it was more about something that happened on the streets, or with Leo. But Sara did give Leo a break from trying to sort out Raph's issues. She was a waitress at a restaurant, so she often had to put up with customers who said nasty things sometimes.

Sara had been told that Raph had an operation because she had asked about the scar on Raph's belly. But she had never been told the truth to what happened to him really. Raph had just told her that Bishop had tried to dissect him, and that was the story they stuck to for all this time.

Don had been the second one to get a girl. He had really liked Sara when she had first come, but Sara had liked Raph's qualities better. She was still friends with him of course. His girl was named Jennifer. She was a nurse, so she added to Don's tech world of medicine. She also loved science. Anatomy and all that. Jenny was a 5'3 blonde girl, blue eyes. She was 21.

Mikey got the next girl. She was nearly as comical as Mikey. Though compared to Mikey, the boys did find her jokes a bit more funny, as long as they weren't pranks. But she also knew how to be serious when the occasion asked for it. Her name was Kayla. She was a stand up comic. She was 22, a red head, and had blue eyes. She stood about 5'2. And though she was a comic, she also loved to watch Mikey draw his comics too. Mikey loved to share his comic books with her. The family was very happy for him to have found someone who shared his interests more.

Leo had been wary of all the girls at first, so it was no wonder that he had got the last girl. But he had been friendly to them in a gentleman like way even when he was wary of them. He trusted them all now. For awhile, he wondered if he would ever get one.

Leo's girl was named Melanie. He now called her Mel at times. She had black hair, green eyes. She was 24, and stood about 5'4. She was a spiritual healer, so Leo had found it real easy to come to like her real easily. She had such a calmness about her. She kept Leo at ease, especially if Raph would happen to make him mad, or enemies.

Now that the turtles and their girls had been together for a few years, they were now coming to a time in their lives where they were considered to be husbands and wives. And all the girls did have a fondness for kids, and were wanting to start families with their hubbies. Despite there being causes for risks, the girls loved the turtles so much that they deserved to have families and continue their family lines just like any other 'people.' They didn't care that they weren't human. To them, they were more human than the real humans of New York.

As each girl felt that they were ready to have kids, they each went to their hubbies and talked to them about how they felt about having kids with them.

Leo's reaction was a little bit of surprise, but he calmed down and said that he would love to be a dad. He did indeed want to give his own dad some grandchildren before he passed away, and Splinter really was getting up there in age.

They were a happy couple, and Mel also knew that Leo would love to have some younger students to teach. It would give him a good role as a sensei to a new generation.

Mikey was more than excited to say yes. He knew he and Kayla had much happiness to give to others, and that should also extend to a family of their own.

Donny was a bit nervous about saying yes. Not that he didn't like kids, but he was worried if he would ever have enough time for his kids, as he often got busy. "That's where I come in to tell you you're working too hard and need a break. That's when you go spend time with your kid or kids." Jenny said jokingly. "You always make time for me."

Don smiled. "That's true. Alright. If its possible, we'll give it a go." He wrapped her in his arms and hugged and kissed her.

Raphael's reaction was a bit more shocked. He was just worried if he might be to hard on any kids or something. Even though he and Sara had been together for a few years now, Raph just didn't know if he would be ready for kids for awhile.

Sara was disappointed at that answer. "We don't have to rush it right now, Raph, but could we try to have it happen in a couple of years perhaps?" She asked.

"I don't want you to be hate me, Sara. I just don't know if I would be a good dad is all. I was always rough on Mikey, and he was like a kid." Raph said.

"Yeah, well, Mikey always has been a pain, but I do agree with you there about him. But Mikey is your brother, not your son. You've been gentle with him too, like when he's hurt or been in big danger, and the same goes for all your brothers. You have a gentleness in you too. You've been like that with me since the night you saved me from those bikers in that back alley." Sara explained. "But you will need that stern side of you to be a good disciplinarian too. As parents, we both will need it."

"That's what I'm afraid of. What if I'm going to be too hard on them?" Raph said.

"We'll take it one day at a time. That's all we can do." Sara said and came up and kissed him.

"Well, alright, but for now, I just want to enjoy us just as ourselves a bit longer." Raph said and got romantic with her.


	10. Chapter 10

Once it was decided that the among the couples that were going to try to start families, the feelings of love began to make their way known all around the lair, though in the bedrooms. It mostly came from Leo, Don, and Mikey's couples though.

Raph just wasn't ready yet. He and Sara just did things together as a couple instead, but there were times of making love as well. Sara was currently on birth control so hopefully, there would be less chances of a procreation right now, in their eyes. Though from Raph, there was no chance of it happening.

Within two months of trying to have children, Jenny was the first one to conceive. Donny was real happy when he found out, if a little shocked. He wasn't sure it was going to happen, but he was more than happy that it had. His brothers and father and even human friends, Casey and April, congratulated them.

Leo, Don, and Mike, as thrilled as they were to be starting this new chapter in their lives, they felt sorry for Raph. Without his true hormones, he just wasn't into this as much as they were. They knew he and his love made love, but not as much as they did. But when he did feel ready, they knew he had no chance of becoming a father.

Raph had confessed to Don about how he felt about having children. "I just don't know if I will be a good dad." Raph said.

"It's alright. I have the same feeling too, Raph. Though I'm just worried I won't make enough time to spend with them." Don said.

"You are already on your way to becoming a father, Donny-boy." Raph said. "I'm not ready yet."

"Yeah, and I'm nervous as shell. Right now, I almost feel like Jenny is going to hurt herself over everything right now. I also want to just support her the right way through all of this." Don said.

"She'll be fine, I'm sure. You'll be her doctor, and the other girls' doctor too, right?" Raph asked.

"I know I can do mine, but the others I'm not sure about. If Leo and Mikey would even let me get near them when it came time to give birth."

"If you're going to be the doctor, they don't have a choice, unless April does it."

"We have some time to work it out." Don said. "I just hope nothing goes wrong."

Despite the love making, patrols and training still had to go on. The boys were all making sure that enemies were kept at bay. And there had been that warning to Bishop those few years ago, and though he still made trouble for other people, at least he hadn't made trouble for them since Leo had promised his threat against him. They were just glad that he hadn't found out about their girlfriends. Bishop hadn't wanted any of them to produce children, and with the exception of Raph, it looked like Bishop wouldn't get his wish.

A month later, Kayla became pregnant. Congratulations were given to Mikey.

There were two pregnant women in the lair now.

When he wasn't busy giving attention to Jenny, Donatello was working very hard on making the security system surrounding the lair very secure. With babies on the way, it was more important than ever that they had great security.

A few weeks later, Melanie was pregnant too. Leo was more than proud of this accomplishment.

The 3 girls were all happy that they weren't going through this alone. Sara just wished she could join in on their miracles, and hoped that she could convince Raph soon to begin their own family.

…..

Several months flew by and Don and Jenny became the first parents of their family. Jenny gave birth to a baby girl. They named her Shelia. She was a lighter olive color, and she had some small golden hair on her head from her mom.

Then, it was Mikey and Kayla's turn. A little girl too. She was named Annie. She was lighter than Mikey, but it was nearly the same color. She had some red hairs on her head from her mom.

Next was Leo and Melanie. A boy. Leo did the honor of naming him after Master Yoshi. Master Splinter liked that. He was Leo's color and had no hair.

All the pregnancies had been the standard nine months. It had been stressful for the guys putting up with 3 pregnant women, but they had done their best to be supportive and not stress them out. They got them special gifts at times, and all three had had a baby shower at the same time.

Don had been the family doctor. Doing exams and such. The babies had shown more to look like the turtles on exams. But when it came time to give birth, the shells that had formed had made it impossible for the babies to pass normally. Don and April had done c-sections. It had been harder for him to operate on his own wife, but he was the first one to hold his own daughter after birth.

Now that all 3 babies were in the lair, Sara looked upon them like a doting aunt. That was the greatest pleasure she could have for now. She just hoped that Raph would see them and like what he saw. Then they could try to have their own.

Raph looked down at the babies with feelings of awe. He was proud of his brothers for making such fine looking children, but he wondered if he was really ready for that kind of commitment yet. Raph thought that he was going to stick it out and help out with these babies first, seeing how well he could handle them before he and Sara would try. After all, having these 3 babies was going to be a BUSY time for the whole family.


	11. Chapter 11

It had been a couple of years now, and the 3 babies had grown into toddlers, who were nearly into everything if they weren't being watched.

Raph and Sara still had not started trying to have a baby yet. Though the toddlers were a handful, Raph had seen how fun they were too. He was handling being an uncle real well. He helped out whenever he could.

The mothers watched the kids when their dads had to go out and patrol. But the women were not helpless either. As wives of ninjas, they had also learned the ninja arts as well.

Master Splinter was still around too. Even he knew of Raph's secret, and he felt bad for his son that unlike the other three, if he had thoughts of becoming a dad, it would never happen. He was glad for the 3 grandchildren that he had. And he was sure there were going to be more, maybe when these 3 were a little older.

The parents were wanting more kids, but yeah, they wanted to wait a few more years to enjoy their firstborns. Even toddlers were big handfuls, but thankfully, a bit more independent than infants.

Raph finally changed his mind and went to talk to Sara. He was liking his role as an uncle, but there had been times when Leo or Mikey had crossed the line to tick him off that he was not a father. He had wanted to make decisions for the kids that were more decisions meant for the fathers or mothers to make.

Raph found Sara in their bedroom on the bed reading a book. "Hey, Sara." He greeted her.

She looked up. "Hi, Raph. What's up?"

"Well, I want to talk to ya." He came over and sat down. She sat up too.

"You still feel up to having a baby?" He asked.

Her eyes lit up. "Yes. But what brought this on?"

"I'm just seeing that the kids are cute and fun, despite the messes. I see the way you look at them too. I can tell you wish one was yours." Raph said.

"I know, but I thought you weren't ready."

"I wasn't. I just wanted to get some experience with some kids before we tried becoming parents. Now that we have some experience dealing with babies and toddlers, let's have our own." Raph said happily.

Sara was more than happy to hear her lover say that. "How about, right now?" Sara said.

Raph smiled and they shut the door and made love.

Sara went off her birth control the next day.

….

It had now been 13 months since Sara had been off her birth control, and she was real mad. She had gotten her period again. This wasn't supposed to happen!

She and Raph had been trying for a baby for over a year, and had seen no results. The couple had not told anyone in the family they were trying because they wanted it to be a surprise.

She came out of the bathroom and sat down next to Raph on the couch. "I got my period again, Raph." She said sadly.

"I'm sorry. Maybe we just need a little more time. Sometimes it takes awhile to get it." He replied.

"I know, but for a young woman like me, I should be able to conceive easily." Sara said.

Raph was at a loss for what to do for her. What if this was meant to be? He wasn't going to be a dad at all.

After her time of the month ended, Sara knew that she might need some help. She scheduled a doctor appointment for herself to have herself examined. Raph was ok with that, as long as her doctor was a woman.

At the doctor's, some blood was taken and she was examined. Afterward, there was a game of waiting for results. A few days later, Sara was called back.

The doctor said, "Now that you have been off your birth control, your cycle has returned to normal and you are indeed ovulating, Sara."

"Then I don't get why I'm not getting pregnant." Sara said.

"It could be your husband then. You should have him come in and I can have a look at his sperm."

"Uh, no. He's a real busy man, and can't come in. He's at another place for his doctor needs. I will go with him when he does decide to go in. I'll talk to him first though." Sara said. "Thanks Doctor." She said and left the fertility clinic.

At home, Sara sat down with Raph in their room so they could talk in private.

"So?" Raph asked.

"I'm ovulating, Raph. I'm fertile." She said.

"That's good." He said.

"But the doctor was concerned that it might be you and not me, why we're not getting pregnant." Sara said.

Raph was taken aback. "Me?"

"You should have Donny take a look at you." She said.

"I almost feel its personal to have my brother lookin' at my swimmers." Raph said.

"What other choice do we have, Raph? We need some answers now."

"Alright. I see ya point." Raph said. For the time being, he and his wife just held each other.

…

The next day, Sara was working when Raph very nervously, made his way to Don's lab. He knocked.

"Come in." Don said.

Raph entered the lab. "Hi, Don."

"Raph, what brings you in here?" Don asked, balancing Sheila on his lap.

"It's me. And Sara." Raph said.

"Did you both fight?"

"No. It's what we're doing is where we need your help. We're- finally trying to have a baby, Donny." Raph confessed.

Don's eyes widened in shock.

"What? I want to be a dad as much as you are. And I thought you guys wanted me to be a dad too."

"It's not that. That's good that you do, Raph." Don said hesitantly.

"Sara went to the doctor and found out that she is fertile. And we've been trying for over a year. Nothing's happened. She thinks it may be me. What if it is?" Raph asked.

Don had a sad look on his face. "I'm sorry, Raph." He got up and put Sheila in her playpen. He knew it was time to reveal the cruel truth.

"For what? Sara just thinks that maybe you need to take a look at my sperm." Raph said. "Can ya give me something to do the job?"

Don sighed heavily. "Raph, it's time to finally tell you something. You need to sit down for this."

"Ok." Raph took a seat in Don's computer chair while Don was standing.

"This isn't going to be easy to say, Raph. You remember when Bishop operated on you?"

"Yes. How could I forget."

"Well, we don't know all what he did to you, but everything was left mostly intact. All but one thing. When we started noticing your behavior was changing a lot more, when I took blood samples from you, and I found out that your… testosterone levels were so low as to be non-existent." Don explained.

Raph's eyes widened in shock and confusion.

"You're sterile, Raph. Bishop neutered you." Don said reluctantly. "That's why you haven't gotten Sara pregnant."


	12. Chapter 12

"WHAT?!" Raph roared in shocked anger. His yell could be heard all over the lair and it brought everyone running to the lab.

"What happened?" Leo asked, running into the lab.

"I'm NEUTERED!" Raph shouted.

The girls all ran into the lab on Leo's heels, but they had heard the shouted words that Raph had bellowed, causing all of them to look at each other in shock. Mikey and Splinter entered the lab, their expressions grim and worried. Of course they had known.

"Why did you tell him, Don?" Leo hissed.

"I had to." Don replied miserably.

"Why?" Mikey asked as he shifted his worried gaze to Raph, who was clenching and unclenching his fists in fury.

"Because, he and Sara were trying to have a baby." Don said. "Sara found out she was fertile and asked Raph to talk to me. I couldn't lie to them both, Leo. It's bad enough that we have been lying to Raph all these years. All the trying and nothing. Can you imagine that happening?"

Everyone looked at each other as an uncomfortable silence filled the room. Finally, Leo spoke to Raph, his voice gentling. "Raph, we didn't know that you wanted kids." Leo said.

"Why didn't ya tell me sooner?" Raph snarled, ignoring Leo's statement. "I had a right to know!"

"We felt that if we told you what had happened, that you wouldn't feel like... like a 'man' anymore." Leo answered.

"Those shots that I give you every month, Raph, are actually testosterone shots. You're not diabetic." Don said next. "But I needed to find a way to replace the hormones that your body was no longer producing on its own."

"And because of Bishop, I can't become a father." Raph bit out in bitter fury.

"No, you can't." Leo agreed sadly. "We wanted to tell you, but were worried about you wanting to go after Bishop and getting hurt, maybe even killed. We went after him and got retribution for you. What he took from you cannot be replaced. We're sorry, Raph." Leo explained in genuine sorrow and regret.

"I hate you!" Raph snapped angrily, storming out of the lab. He had to get away from his brothers and the pity in their eyes before he hurt someone.

It hadn't been the first time Raph had ever said those words, and he almost meant them. But he knew that he was just angry and upset right now. But now he knew the bitter truth. His family would give him his time to cool off before talking to him again. But this seemed like the first time he had been that mad since halfway through his recovery.

Raph knew Sara was going to be disappointed and upset. Right now she was working.

…

It had taken him several hours to calm down enough to come back to the lair. He had run through the sewers since it was daytime outside.

Sara was home now. She hadn't been told the news because they knew Raph needed to be the one to tell her. But she knew something was wrong. She saw it on her family's faces.

That evening at bedtime, Raph and Sara sat on their bed to talk before bed. "So, did you find out the results from Don?" She asked.

"I have something to tell ya. And it's not going to be easy for ya to hear, as it wasn't for me." Raph said. "We ain't havin' a baby."

"What?" She asked, incredulous.

"Don didn't have to do anything with me, and I didn't have to give him anything. He and my brothers knew that I was sterile this whole time." Raph growled bitterly, his voice still containing the thread of hurt and anger that still simmered just below the surface.

"Raphael."

"When Bishop decided to dissect me, turns out that the bastard neutered me!"

"Oh, Raph! I'm so sorry." Sara moved over to just hug him. "That evil bastard!"

Raph just hugged her back, some tears appearing in his eyes. This was just too awful for the both of them.

…

The next day, Sara stomped up to Leo angrily and hit him in the shoulder.

"Hey!" He cried out in shock as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Sara!" Melanie chastised her.

"How could you not tell Raph that he was neutered years ago?!" Sara demanded. "He's so upset that he can't even come out of the room right now." Sara demanded.

"Because we didn't know immediately after it happened. We thought he was fine and then when we did find out... we just couldn't bring ourselves to tell him what Bishop did. He had been under enough stress while he was recovering. We were wanting to find a right time to tell him, but just never felt any time was a good time. And now we know that you both wanted a baby and we are upset as well." Leo explained as quickly as he could before she decided to hit him in the face.

"Bishop wanted to do the same thing to us as well. But we did the best we could to get revenge for Raph." Don said. "And he has stayed away from us ever since Leo threatened to do to him what he had done to Raph if he ever bothered us again."

"You still should have told him. He feels like an outcast right now. I've done my best to calm him down. And now I know I will never get the chance to be a mom!" Sara left the room to go be with her husband again.

"Poor Sara. I wish there was something we could do for her and Raph." Mel said.

"I hate that that happened to Raph. It changed his life, and our lives forever. During his recovery, he had started changing. He wasn't as hot tempered as he was a lot of times. I was glad that he had lightened up, so to speak, but it just wasn't the Raph we were so used to." Leo said.

After breakfast, Leo went to talk to Don.

"Raph still is very upset, Don. He won't come out of his room, and Sara hit me." Leo said to his brother.

"After Raph no doubt told her last night, she is obviously upset too. She was looking forward to a baby of her own with Raph." Don said.

"So what happens now? You are still going to give Raph the shots of testosterone, right?" Leo asked.

"Yes. Raph still has to be on them the rest of his life." Don said. "But he's probably going to start eating junk again because he knows he's not diabetic, which is a shame because the diet was good for him."

"I still feel guilty about not telling him sooner." Leo said.

"I know. I do too. But we didn't think this would ever happen. But being with a girl makes couples sooner or later want to have kids." Don said. "We did."

"Yeah, and the three of us each have a kid now. It just won't happen for our brother." Leo said.

Don nodded sadly.


	13. Chapter 13

It had been several days before Sara and Raph started to accept their situation. They had enjoyed each other’s company for what seemed like a long time, but it was a bitter, depressing thought that it would only now be the two of them for the rest of their lives.

Don and Jenny were in the lab working together, while their daughter was down for a nap right now. 

An idea suddenly popped into Jenny’s head. "Donny, I had a thought just now.” Jenny said.

Don turned to her. “About what?”

"Raph and Sara. Maybe one of us could give them a baby. Let them adopt. It could be from any one of us.” Jenny said. 

"I don’t know if they’ll like that idea. And I know I don’t want to give up my babies. Not to sound mean. But I suppose a type of in vitro could work.” Don said thoughtfully.

"Well, I mean, you could talk it over with Leo and Mikey, and see if they might be interested. I could talk to Mel and Kayla, and see what they think as well. And we discuss what happens. Then we’ll discuss it with Raph and Sara." Jenny suggested. “I’m sure they want their brother happy.” 

“Yes, we all do. I’ll talk it over with them later on, ok?” Don said. “But I’m just not sure if Raph could call a child his own when it would be one of ours. It probably wouldn't be the same.”

“I know it wouldn’t be the same, but I’m just wanting to help give them what they want.” Jenny said.

“I know. And it’s noble, but like I said, I don’t know.” Don said. 

………

Later, Don got Leo and Mikey gathered in his lab, where he had the door closed for privacy, so that Raph and Sara were unable to hear their discussion.

“So, what do you want to talk to us about, Donny?” Mikey asked curiously. 

“As you know, Raph was very upset about finding out that he was neutered. And he has been moping around ever since. He hasn’t been talking to us, he’s too depressed and angry right now. But what I wanted to talk to you guys about is, Jenny came up with an idea to help Raph and Sara. It sounds like a good one to me, and I don’t know if Raph and Sara would go for it, but it’s probably the only choice they have.” 

“What are you talking about Don?” Leo asked. 

“Well, we are not neutered. Jenny’s idea is… adoption.” Don said. 

Leo and Mike’s eyes lit up. 

“Letting them adopt one of ours.” Don said. 

‘What do you mean, Donny?” Mikey inquired, a look of confusion on his face. “I’m not giving up Annie.” 

“And I’m not giving up Yoshi.” Leo said.

“No, no. I mean what if one of us volunteered to have another baby and gave it to Raph and Sara? That was Jenny’s idea. I’m not giving up Shelia either.” Don suggested. 

Leo and Mikey breathed a sigh of relief. 

“I suppose that’s possible.” Leo agreed. “Sara could carry the baby, but who would be the father?” 

“How do we decide that?” Mikey asked. 

“Well, the best way to think about it is perhaps to think about who has the most in common with Raph.” Don began. “Mikey, you have the closest coloring, but Leo's personality is the closest to Raph's. So I suppose it would be up to them to decide. I think Sara would want qualities like that to come from Raph.” 

“I might be the closest to Raph personality-wise, but I'm still not Raph, none of us are.” Leo said. 

“I know. But Raph doesn’t have much of a choice, not if he wants a child.” Don replied. 

“Yeah. And truthfully, Donny, I don’t know if I could give up a child.” Leo said. 

“Well, it would be a combination of your sperm and Sara's egg, so it isn't like it is yours and Melanie's. Besides, the baby would still be right here in the lair. It wouldn’t be going anywhere.” Don pointed out. “Besides, don’t you want to see Raph happy?” 

“Of course I do. It’s just, a little hard to think about when the baby was something that I would have created. I think Raph might feel like he’s either not good enough for the baby, or not... 'man' enough to have given Sara a baby. That’s why I was so reluctant to even have him told about the neutering.” Leo said.

“Yeah, but it could have spared him and Sara this pain now.” Mikey pointed out. “If they had known a long time ago, they wouldn't be feeling like we betrayed both of them, or had their hearts broken and their dreams shattered.” 

Leo sighed heavily. “I love Raph, and it is my fault that he and Sara are in this position right now. I suppose I could do it for him, if he’s willing to accept the offer.” Leo said with a nod. 

“That’s good.” Donatello said with a relieved nod. "Jenny’s trying to talk to the girls right now to see if they might agree with her.” Don said. 

“Yeah, that might make him happy, but just one thing; I’m not having sex with Sara.” Leo said. 

“You don’t have to, Leo. We could use in vitro fertilization. Just collect some sperm from you, and inject it into Sara.” Don said. 

Leo breathed a sigh of relief. 

Don wanted to make sure that they had everything thought out and discussed before going to talk with Raph and Sara about this. They also needed to talk to their wives too, in private and discuss it as a family after a decision was reached. This was a huge decision to make and it was nearly the only option otherwise for Raph and Sara. 

………..

Jenny had Melanie and Kayla come to her and Leo’s room. She needed to share her idea and see if they would be okay with having one of their husbands make a 'donation.' Like the boys, they wanted the angles covered too before either Sara or Raph were approached. Sara desperately wanted a baby, and she wanted one from the husband that she loved, but it just wasn’t going to happen that way. 

“So, Jenny. What do you want to talk about?” Kayla asked.

"Raph and Sara, and their awful situation." Jenny answered.

“It is horrible, but there isn't anything we can do for them.” Mel said. 

“Well, there." Jenny countered. "Sara and Raph could adopt." 

“Adoption? You mean like a human child?” Kayla asked in confusion. 

“No. A turtle baby. One of Raph’s brothers donates some sperm and Sara could carry it. Or one of us.” Jenny suggested. 

“Uh, that is a good idea, Jenny, but I don’t know if any of us wants to give up a baby that was fathered by one of our guys.” Mel said. 

“Mel, it’s the only choice that Raph and Sara have. We are going to talk to the guys a little later and see what they said.” Jenny said. “Then if everyone is in agreement, we’ll tell Raph and Sara that we found a solution to the situation.” 

“I just think that I have a problem having Mikey having sex with Sara.” Kayla said. 

“None of the guys have to have sex with her. All we have to use is in vitro fertilization. Just collect some sperm from one and inject it into Sara. Raph might like it better that Sara could at least carry the baby. He would just have to learn to love one of his brothers’ children.” Jenny explained. 

“And it would be hard on us because it would be our lover’s baby, whoever the dad would be.” Mel said. “It would feel like one of them cheated on us.” 

“What other choice is there?” Jenny asked. “Sara wants a baby, and this is the only way to give it to her.” 

Kayla and Melanie reluctantly agreed that it was the only way. They did want to see their ‘sister’ happy after all. 

………..

Later that night, all three pairs met up together in the kitchen.

Leo spoke up first. “So, what did you girls decide?” 

“We agreed that it is a good idea. And that none of you who had decided to do it would be cheating on us.” Mel said to her lover. 

“If you guys were okay with it, we thought that Leo could be the surrogate father.” Don said. “He’s the closet one to Raph in personality.” 

“Okay.” Mel agreed. 

“Now we just need to tell Sara and Raph our idea.” Mikey said. 

“But how are we going to even talk to them?” Kayla asked. “They barely even leave their room.” 

“Tomorrow morning’s training.” Leo offered. “We’ll talk before training, they always attend that.” 

Everyone nodded in agreement. 

……….

The next morning, everyone came into the dojo. Raph and Sara were last to show up again. They were still in a depressed state. 

Raph and Sara were expecting a set up line when they got there, and Leo preparing them for sparring. But what they got was a family circle. 

“Come and join us.” Leo said. 

Raph and Sara went and sat down, prepared to hear training strategies, but that wasn’t what they were going to hear about.

“Raph and Sara, it’s good you’re here.” Leo said. 

“Just get on with it, Fearless.” Raph growled. 

“Right now, this is a family meeting. We couldn’t think of any other way to approach you.” Leo said. 

“What sort of family meeting?” Sara asked. 

“We believe that we have found a solution to your problem.” Don said. 

“A solution? There is no solution if you’re talking about the baby problem.” Sara growled at them. 

“Sure there is, Sara.” Jenny said gently. “We have all sat down and talked about it, and the solution is adoption.” 

Raph and Sara frowned in confusion. 

“Sara, you can still get to be the mother. And although it was a difficult decision for us, one of the guys is willing to give you the chance to have a baby.” Jenny explained. 

Jenny’s words pissed Raph off. “Over my dead body! No one is having sex with Sara but me!” He roared. 

“We’re not talking about having sex, Raphael.” Mel shouted at him. 

“We’re talking about sperm collection, and then putting it into Sara.” Jenny stated. 

Sara was shocked at this. Was it possible she could still be a mother? “Who was willing to be the sperm donor?” She asked. 

“I am.” Leo said. 

“Like hell you will! You aren’t coming anywhere near my wife!” Raph got up and got in front of Sara. 

“I’m not going to, Raph. I’m just wanting to help you and Sara have a baby.” Leo tried to stay calm. 

“I don’t want any part of you in her! If there’s going to be no baby, then fine. No baby.” Raph said and trudged out of the dojo. He was furious. 

Sara stayed behind. “It is an honorable thought, Leo, but I don’t want to make Raph any more upset than he already is.” She got up to leave. 

“Wait, Sara. Maybe just think about it?” Mel said. 

“How?” Sara turned. 

“Surrogate carrier too. I could carry the baby and then give it to you after birth.” Mel said. 

“I don’t know, Mel. It would be Leo’s baby, and you would be real attached to it because you carried it. No. I’m sorry. Raph and I will just stick to being an aunt and uncle, but thank you.” Sara said as she left. 

“Well, that could have gone better." Mikey said with a frown full of concern, worry, and unhappiness.

Master Splinter, who had been informed about what was happening, and had decided to take care of the children as he felt that his sons and their wives should have their discussion in private. He had however noticed Raphael's reaction and had heard Sara's parting comment. He walked into the dojo to talk with his remaining sons and their wives.

“It was very noble of you six to care so much about them to have come up with that.” Splinter said softly. 

“We were really trying to help them out, Master Splinter.” Leo said. 

“We can see how much Sara wants a baby.” Jenny said. 

“Yes, she does. But she wants Raphael to give her the child. It is perhaps too soon as they are still in mourning over the loss of what could have been, and the betrayal of the knowledge we held of Raphael's situation." Splinter said gently. 

“We know that, but it can’t go on like this.” Don said. 

“Just give them some more time, and then perhaps they shall change their minds.” Splinter said. 

After that talk, it was difficult to think about training, and so it was canceled until evening.


	14. Chapter 14

Raph felt even more miserable now that his family had even offered that idea. He wanted a child that was sired by him, and only him.

Sara slowly walked into the room.

"Raph, how could you do that? They were only trying to help."

"I know." Raphael growled. "But I don't want Leo's help. I feel like I'm enough of a loser that I couldn't get my own girl pregnant." Raph said bitterly.

"Raph, if we want to have kids, it might be our only option. They even offered that Mel carries for Leo, and then us adopting it off of them. But I said no. I knew as the biological parents, they wouldn't want to separate from their child anyway." Sara said.

"I know. And it'd still be Leo's kid." Raph said. "If we adopt, then let's adopt a human baby."

"Raph, it isn't that easy. You often have to wait for years, and the parents each have to have a good source of income and great careers before an adoption agency would even look at us, let alone allow us to adopt. There are visits and paperwork, and we live in a sewer, and you don't even have a job." Sara said. "And that's something I don't have."

"Fine, then all we need is each other." Raph said. "I hope you can live with that."

"Yes. I can. As long as we still have nieces and nephews at least to play with." She said with a hint of sadness.

"It's good enough for me too." Raph kissed her. "We'll get over this and move on, in time."

…

Sara was still upset about what Raph had said about moving on. She knew they had no choice, but she still wanted a baby so badly of her own. She was completely willing to accept Leo's offer of helping them. He was a lot like Raph in so many ways. They both liked to train a lot, both had a tough guy attitude, though Leo was much calmer than Raph. A champion fighter. Just some things they had in common.

Right now, Sara was sitting in the living room, watching TV. She was watching Animal Planet. A show about cloning to be exact.

She was seeing how the animals were being cloned and how the clones were carried to term. A clone might have the same direct genetic link and be nearly like a twin to the original host, but the clones were more rather like offspring than a twin.

An animal could be cloned, and have identical traits to the original, but it's personality and looks were not the same exactly. And that's the way it was with having babies the natural way.

An idea popped into Sara's head. Maybe this was the way to go! Cloning! It was about the last chance Raph would have to become a father. And maybe he would be up for this option. She had to talk to Don.

Sara knocked on Don's lab door. "Come in." She heard from the other side. She came into the lab. Jenny was at the hospital right now, so she could talk to him alone.

"Donny, I'm sorry about how Raph and I have been treating everyone, but you know why we are sad." She said.

"Yes, and we offered to help." He said.

"Well, I think I just found out a way how you could help us. Cloning!" She said happily.

Don's eyes widened. "Cloning? That doesn't always turn out too well, Sara."

"I just saw on TV that some animals like sheep, cows, and horses have been successfully cloned. Why not your brother? You would be using my eggs and Raph's DNA to fertilize them. It's nearly the same as the natural way, but Raph has no sperm to use. Surely, some of his DNA could do it too." Sara explained.

"You could be right. But Raph should be told if it's going to be done that way." Don said.

"I plan on getting him on board." Sara said.

…

Later on, Sara sat down to talk to Raph.

"Hey Raph."

"Hi Sara." He said.

"Raph, I think I have found another solution to our baby problem." She said.

"Not again, Sara." Raph said with an irritated sigh.

"It doesn't involve anything from your brothers at all. Just your DNA put into my eggs to make a baby or a few." Sara said.

Raph's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yes. It's called cloning to be exact. It's the only other way if we won't accept help from your brothers." Sara said.

"Cloning?" Raph asked dubiously.

"Don said he could do the process, but I need to go back to the fertility clinic to have some of my eggs harvested for fertilization." Sara said.

"I don't know if I like the idea of Don touching you." Raph said.

"He's the one that knows how to do more of this stuff than April does. And of course, my doctors wouldn't do any cloning that involves humans at all. Donny HAS to do it! Though you would be the one being the DNA donor. Your DNA is fertilizing my eggs." She said. "And together, they would be our babies!" She kissed him.

Raph thought it over a moment, then smiled.

"Alright, Sara. Don can do it, but I'm going to be there watching him do it."

"That's fine." She said. "I just need to wait two weeks. My time of the month is coming up soon and we need the opportune time to be able to harvest my eggs."

The next day, Sara made an appointment to have a talk with her doctor about having her eggs harvested.

…

Sara went to her doctor to discuss her wanting some of her eggs harvested for in vitro fertilization.

The doctor knew this had very big risks.

"Sara, harvesting your eggs has risks to both your health and fertility." She said. "You could just have sperm put in you for in vitro fertilization."

"Not this kind, Doctor." Sara said. "Another doctor is wanting to use my eggs to make a baby for someone else. I said yes. What do I have to do?"

"Ok. First, for a month, you would need to take a bunch of hormones to stimulate your ovaries to make a lot of eggs, and no sex, unless you want your husband to fertilize them himself. And then those eggs would not be viable for your purposes." Doc said.

"I know. I won't get pregnant that way. I can wait. This must be done, Doctor." Sara said.

"Then after a month, the next time it is time for you to ovulate, it could be painful for you. Your ovaries should produce many more eggs than normal. Because to make sure the eggs are fertilized properly, the doctor needing the eggs will need as many eggs as possible, as not all of the eggs may be usable."

"It will be fine."

The doc explained some more risks and all, but Sara was adamant in her decision.

The doctor gave her some hormones to start. She started taking them that night, and she explained everything to Raph and Don. Raph didn't understand most of it, but Don did. He was the one who was going to do the procedure.

"Why does this all have to be so complicated?" Raph asked.

"If we want a baby this way, it has to be done this way, Raph. Another month. Just wait." Sara said.

…

Over the next month, Sara's hormones increased. She wanted to make love a lot to Raph, and he was all for it, and they could because he could not get her pregnant.

When she ovulated, Sara did happen to be in a lot of pain. But that was when it was time for collection of her eggs too. She had to stay overnight in the fertility clinic.

The doctor did an ultrasound the next morning to see how many eggs were released. Twelve. That was a lot of eggs!

The doctor collected the eggs from her. It was painful, but she figured the pain would be worth it in the end if she was able to have a baby.

Then the eggs were put in a safety holder so they wouldn't die, and so the other doctor could use them.

Sara was grateful. Raph picked her up.

Sara gave the eggs to Don.

"We have the eggs, Donny." Sara said.

"Ok, thanks. And if we're going to do this, now it's Raph's turn to make his contribution." Don said.

"What are you going to do?" Raph asked.

"I'm going to take some skin samples. How many eggs are there?" Don asked.

"Twelve." Sara said.

"That gives me quite a few to work with."

Don stored the eggs safely, then began working on Raph.

"Isn't there be an easier way of collecting my DNA than scrapin' away my skin?" Raph snarled.

"Taking blood could be another way to do this Raph." Don said. "But skin samples are more ideal. You have it easy as compared to what Sara already went through, and what she is going to go through with carrying your child for 9 months."

Don had done extensive research into the procedure.

"Fine. Get it over with then." Raph growled. He was tolerant of the pain as Don took some samples.

Soon it was over.

Don told Sara and Raph to just relax now. Raph had many spots on his arms that were sore, but he would be fine. Now it was up to Don to fertilize the egg under the microscope before the implantation was to take place.

Under the microscope, he removed the nucleus of the one of Sara's eggs. Then, carefully, he put one of Raph's skin samples into the nucleus of the egg. Then he 'activated' it with some electricity. That's how it was first started.

He did it a few more times with four other eggs. Now they had to wait a week for the eggs to reach the blastocyst stage. Don had worked with up to 5 eggs.

…

A week later, Don looked at the eggs, and found that two out of the 3 had died. But the three other eggs were still good.

Don was very hesitant about putting the eggs into Sara himself. He had never done this type of procedure before. April came down to help him as she had been told about what was going on.

The whole family knew that this was a special way to make the baby Raph and Sara wanted so desperately to have.

Sara was covered up in the lower region, with April concentrating the ultrasound probe on her abdomen as Don began the delicate process of inserting the fertilized eggs. It showed Don he was doing it right.

Raph was in the room watching silently, squeezing Sara's hand in support. He wanted to play a part in this too, and he was to be the father, so he wanted to be there for Sara.

Soon, the eggs were implanted into Sara. Now all they could do was wait and see if any of the three fertilized eggs would develop.

Sara had only wanted one to start out, but two had already died. So they needed more than one egg put in her, so at the least, if 1 could make it, it would. Some more could die too.

Don would examine her in a few weeks.


	15. Chapter 15

A few weeks later, Donny did an ultrasound on Sara to see if she had conceived. Raph was by her side, anxious to know if Sara was now pregnant with their child.

As Don ran the probe over Sara's belly, he could see three tiny embryos on the screen. They sure had taken well.

Don smiled. "Congratulations, you two. You're going to be parents." Don said happily.

"That's great! How many?" Sara asked.

"All three that were implanted in you seem to have taken." Don said.

"Three! Three, Raph!" Sara said excitedly.

"Yeah, that's great." Raph said. He was just a little more in shock that it had worked.

"Raph, are you ok?" Don asked.

"Yeah, I'm… fine." Raph said, but then he collapsed.

"Raph!" Sara and Don cried out. Don ran forward to pick him up off the floor.

"You think it was the surprise that it worked out?" Sara asked.

"I think so. This was almost my reaction when I first found out Jenny was having my baby." Don said.

The others came running into the lab when they had heard Don and Sara's cries.

"What happened this time?" Leo asked.

"Raph just fainted when he found out that he's going to be a father." Sara said proudly.

Mikey couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Congratulations, Sara!" Kayla, Jenny, and Melanie ran forward and hugged her.

Don had now placed Raph on another cot in the lab so he could come out of his shock on his own. Sara would stay with him.

Leo and Mikey also wanted to congratulate Raph, but they would have time to do it later.

"How many did you see, Donny?" Leo asked.

"Three."

"Boy, Raph did better than we did!" Mikey stated, giving a bemused smile.

"Well, we didn't know if any would take at all, so we had to implant more than one, Mikey." Sara said.

"Well, I'm glad for you both that this succeeded." Leo said.

"Thanks, Leo. And I do want to thank you for wanting to help us both before now, but it just wasn't what we wanted." Sara said.

"I know, and I am glad that you two did find a way to have children." Leo said.

"I just hope everything goes okay, because I know that having multiples is a little riskier, but I accept this choice, no matter the consequences because I love my husband." Sara declared.

Raph woke up a little while later and finally said that he was happy that they were going to have children. So Raph and Sara were now looking forward to having triplets.

…  
A few weeks later, Sara had been sick for a long time now, but it was just the usual morning sickness thing that all her sister-in-laws had gone through in their pregnancies.

Raph tried his best to be there for Sara, to make her feel better, knowing that the morning sickness wouldn't last forever, but right now, it was hard to see that far ahead. Aside from offering or keeping her away from certain foods, there was just nothing he could really do for her.

His brothers knew how he felt about this part. They had all gone through it too; watching their wives being sick and knowing there was nothing they could do.

Since Sara's hormones were out of whack right now, there were times she was furious with Raph, and then she would take solace with any of the other women in the lair. But Sara -at times- felt so alone as well, since she wasn't going through her pregnancy at the same time as the other women.

When she was about 11 weeks along, Sara was using the bathroom when she began feeling strong cramps, and she noticed some blood.

No! This couldn't be happening!

She wanted to be checked out immediately to make sure the babies were alright.

Don did an ultrasound and saw all 3 triplets were still intact. But Jenny told her that sometimes it wasn't uncommon to have some bleeding during pregnancy either. But it should be monitored.

Sara was satisfied that it was nothing and she would keep an eye on it.

Raph had been worried when she told him, but had convinced him it was nothing.

…

But it wasn't nothing. Sara began to get sicker, and the cramps and bleeding got worse. She felt like she had to run to the bathroom every few minutes.

Why was this happening? She and Raph had worked too hard for this time to happen.

When the pains and bleeding didn't ease up after another week, Don and Jenny checked her again, and this time, there was some bad news.

They didn't see any babies on the screen.

"I'm so sorry, Sara. Your body has rejected the embryos." Donny said sadly.

Sara immediately broke down. Raph was with her. Jenny hugged Sara. Raph stiffened up. Why was there such bad luck for him and his wife?

After getting out of the lab, Raph held Sara to try to comfort her. They could try again, but now was not the time.

…

It was many weeks later now, and although Sara had recovered physically, emotionally she hadn't. Sara had stopped being sick, and had stopped bleeding. She and Raph had now accepted that getting pregnant didn't seem like an option if she was just going to miscarry.

The others were trying to coax them to try again, as Don still had some spare eggs.

"Maybe in a year or so." Sara said. She was still mourning over the ones she lost.


	16. Chapter 16

It had now been over 2 months since the loss of their babies. Sara and Raph were still trying to cope, but it was harder on Sara for having been the one who miscarried. The babies had been in her hands to care for, and she felt she had done something wrong. 

Right now, Sara was having strange food cravings and a larger than normal appetite. She wasn’t sick or anything, but her sister in laws questioned if she could still be pregnant. 

“We didn’t see any others on ultrasound, so no. I don’t think so.” Sara said. But it was when she started to swell out in her belly that she questioned herself. Could she still be pregnant? 

She went to Raph to tell him her suspicion.

“Raph, I know I miscarried a few months ago, but what if I am still pregnant?” Sara asked. 

“What makes you think you are pregnant?” Raph asked. 

“I have what all the others had. Mood swings, I’m hungry nearly all the time, I can't fit into my pants anymore.” She said.

“Really?” Raph perked up at that. 

Sara gladly rolled up her shirt to let him see her slightly swollen belly. He put a hand on it, but he still couldn’t be sure. “Maybe you should get yourself checked to be sure.” 

“Yeah, I will.” She said. “Maybe there’s still some hope yet.”   
………

Sara was examined again, and this time, there was some good news. The ultrasound showed a baby, that moved slightly as the wand was dragged over her belly. 

“There is definitely a baby inside of you, Sara. It’s about 5 months along.” Donny said. 

“But what about the bleeding she had so many weeks ago?” Raph asked, standing beside her. 

“Sara did miscarry yes, but it looks like she managed to keep one of the fertilized eggs.” Don said. “Congratulations, Raph and Sara, you are going to be parents in just 4 months.” 

“That is so great!” Jenny said, excited over the prospect of having another niece or nephew, and glad that the gloom that had descended upon the lair after Sara and Raph's loss, would now turn to joy.

The lair had been in sadness about Raph and Sara’s loss for so long, but had still lived in happiness the best they could with the other babies. 

Raph had been excited at the prospect of being a father, but had attempted to bear his disappointment, and accept that he was never going to be one. Now that prospect was being offered up again, and this time, he felt more anxious and worried, afraid that something would again happen to snatch away at their dream of having children.  
………

Four months later, Sara had a c-section done to deliver her baby. And just like with his brothers before him -who had also been in the delivery room, and who had cut the cord- Raph was by Sara’s side, watching with fatherly pride. 

“You have a baby boy!” Jenny said. Don was doing the surgery and Jenny was helping to take the baby to help clean him up. 

Raph leaned over and kissed Sara. 

The baby’s cry was the most beautiful sound in the room. 

Leo, Mel, Kayla, Mikey, Master Splinter, April, and Casey all waited out in the living area anxiously. They could hear the baby's cries coming from within the room and figured everything was fine, but they wanted to know if the baby was a boy, or a girl. 

Raph came out soon after, a big happy smile on his face. The others rushed over to him. 

“I have a son!” He said all too proudly. 

His family's happiness couldn’t be contained. 

“And how’s Sara?” Kayla asked. 

“Don's closing the incision right now, but she’s just fine.” Raph said. “Now I gotta get back to her. Just wanted to let you all know.” Raph went back to the infirmary. 

Soon after Sara was sewn up and bandaged, and placed in a new bed, then she was handed her son to hold for the first time. Raph was at her side too. 

“So what do we want to name him?” Raph asked. 

“I had looked up some good names, and if it was a boy, and since Leo had wanted to help us once, and his son has a Japanese name, I looked up Japanese names, and I liked Takeshi. It means ‘the strong one.’ And he was strong for holding on inside me.” Sara said. “And he is strong, like his daddy.” 

Raphael gazed down at his son. He had his skin color and no hair, and the same number of digits on his fingers and toes as him. 

“Takeshi Hamato. It has a good ring to it.” Raph said. 

“But had you thought of any names?” Sara asked her lover.

“I was worried all about you and him during the months you were carrying him. After all we had gone through to have him, I was hoping for a miracle that he was going to be born healthy.” Raph said. “But I had gone through and looked up some names, but I like what you choose better. I didn’t know if you would like mine.” 

“I know, we were both worried.” She said. 

Once the name was decided on, the family was invited into the room to meet their new nephew and grandson. “His name is Takeshi.” Raph said happily. 

“That’s a great name, my son.” Splinter said. 

Takeshi was handed around to the family members very carefully, and even introduced to his older cousins, Sheila, Annie, and Yoshi. 

Being over 4 years old now, the three older kids marveled at the new baby. Yoshi would be glad to have a little boy cousin, since he had been the only boy before now. 

It had taken Raph and Sara so long to have this little miracle baby in the lair, and the whole family was proud of them to have succeeded at having their own baby despite the challenges that had been thrown in their way. 

And after the neutering that had happened to Raphael, it had nearly rendered him being unable to be a father, but Master Splinter was more than happy that his son and his wife had found a way around that handicap. He would love having a grandchild from his fourth son too. 

It would be hard to say when there would be more kids, but all the turtles were glad that they had found the girls of their dreams, and had made beautiful families with them. There would be hopefully generations of the turtles to come. They were their legacies. Their diversity.

The End


End file.
